Nova Scotia mayors are right to protest the provincial government downloading services like jails and public housing onto municipalities. The decision by the province to tear up a 2007 agreement between the two levels of government is an attempt to burden municipalities with the consequences of the province’s poor fiscal management.

The Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities campaign slogan says it succinctly: "Deal Axed, Residents Taxed." They oppose the end of the provincial/municipal funding deal — but before we allow the UNSM and its president, Bill Joe MacLean, to sell themselves as defenders of the taxpayer, we should take a closer look at their position on taxes.

Long before the NDP government ended the funding arrangement, the mayors had been campaigning to hike your tax bill by opposing a tax cap on your home assessment.

Since 2008-09, there has been a cap on residential property taxes tied to inflation. That freeze ensures that your property assessment for tax purposes will not grow larger than the rate of inflation. An assessment cap provides predictability for homeowners and local governments. Last year, the average property assessment grew in Nova Scotia by 6.7 per cent (but the taxes maxed out at the inflation rate of 2.9 per cent).

Cap sound like a good idea? Well, not to Billy Joe MacLean and the UNSM members who have been working for months behind closed doors to have the cap removed. According to UNSM’s own numbers, removal of the cap means over 360,000 of the 488,000 (2009) total property taxpayers in Nova Scotia would see increased tax bills at today’s tax rates. Most of those capped are average middle-class homes (houses valued at $75,000 to $225,000).

Some municipal politicians oppose tax caps because it forces them to raise tax rates if they want more revenue (over inflation), rather than rely on more discreet creeping assessments. Tax caps make politicians more accountable.

If the mayors are truly concerned about residents’ taxes, in addition to opposing the downloading of services from the province, they should support a tax cap and two further reforms that would bring accountability and transparency to the tax system.

First, change the way assessments are done. Currently, an "arm’s-length" organization called the Property Valuation Corporation sets your property tax assessments. The problem is that the very people who benefit from high assessments — municipal governments — run the agency. The board of directors is made up almost entirely of municipal politicians. And the company executives report directly to the politicians.

Municipalities should remove themselves from the assessment process and turn the function over to a truly independent organization with a board of regular citizens.

Second, municipalities should hold a referendum each time they want to raise your taxes above the inflation rate.

How would this work? Well, let’s say Halifax regional council wanted to raise tax rates even higher to pay for new infrastructure projects or a new contract with one of its unions. To do that, the city would have to ask citizens to support those tax hikes through a referendum, forcing local politicians to justify why they want to take more money. Giving people the right to have their say brings together the notions of tax limitation and direct democracy.

Recently, one Nova Scotia town held a referendum when it was faced with a tough decision. Voters in New Minas decided overwhelmingly in favour of giving their council the green light to borrow $3 million to build a new civic and recreation centre.

Rather than paying lip-service to the ills of higher taxes, the UNSM should instead embrace a truly taxpayer-friendly agenda that will keep your taxes low and make government more accountable.

This piece orginally ran in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Letters/1242717.html