Across the province, Manitobans are seeing tax hikes from where they likely weren’t expecting it – school divisions.

In February, the Manitoba government announced more spending on education. However, the government also announced that if school divisions deemed this increase to not be enough, they will be allowed to raise local school property taxes again.

This move will not make life more affordable. A tax hike by any other government sucks just as much.

Manitoba is the only province that still funds education through locally determined school taxes. The previous government froze this ability for the last two years. This was part of that government's plan to phase out locally determined school taxes over 10 years and instead fund education provincially. It was doing this by offering rebates to property owners on their school taxes.

The 50 per cent rebate saved a household with a $1,550 school tax bill $774 in 2023.

But what are the results of the new government’s idea? Higher taxes.

Property taxes are one of the worst taxes that can be hiked because the ability to pay has no bearing. When you make more money at your job, you must pay more income tax, but only because you are earning more money.

But when it comes to property tax, it doesn’t matter if you are a senior citizen collecting your fixed pension, or a CEO sleeping on a big bed of cash, the amount of property tax you pay depends wholly on the tax rate and how much the government deems your house is worth.

And now taxpayers are feeling the pinch.

The Winnipeg School Division is trying to raise taxes by 3.4 per cent this year. Pembina Trails School Division wants a three per cent increase. Louis Riel School Division is proposing a 7.5 per cent tax increase and in Morden, the Western School Division is proposing a whopping 17 per cent property tax increase.

The flood gates have opened.

The negative effects of rising property taxes are even worse in rural places like Morden. The Keystone Agriculture Producers say these increases hurt farmers more because of how much more property tax they must pay than a typical house.

But families and farmers aren’t the only ones who are going to have to fork over more. The provincial government is going to feel the pinch as well. Since the government has committed to keeping the 50 per cent rebate introduced by the former government, as local property taxes rise, so will the rebates that the Manitoba government owes taxpayers. The government can’t increase costs like this when it’s staring down a $1.6 billion deficit.

The NDP election platform highlighted “lower taxes and bills” as one of its plans to make life easier for families. Allowing school divisions to hike property taxes is the exact opposite of that plan.

While the provincial government should shoulder most of the blame for enabling these tax hikes, school divisions should also be looking to cut costs instead of taking more from families who are already having trouble affording necessities.

Last year, the Chief Superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division was paid about $323,000. A Superintendent of the Pembina Trails School Division school division made $276,000 the same year. The average Manitoban makes about $58,000 per year.

These aren’t payments for teachers who educate students but salaries for senior bureaucrats.

For context, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew earns approximately $200,000 per year. Members of the legislative assembly make about $103,000. Administrators of school divisions shouldn’t be making more than the people who are tasked with running the province.

The government has said it will keep the 50 per cent rebates but will offer a new funding model in the future. That funding model can’t include higher taxes.

This government has loudly committed to lower costs for Manitobans. Premier Wab Kinew needs shut the door on local property tax hikes and work to lower costs for Manitobans.