Calgary, AB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Mayor Naheed Nenshi to recall his property tax letter and update it with correct information.

“It’s bad enough that council is hammering families with tax hikes during an economic crisis, but Nenshi is adding insult to injury by mailing out a property tax letter that is chock-full of misinformation,” said Franco Terrazzano, the CTF’s Alberta Director. “The mayor’s letter conveniently leaves out the millions in waste at city hall, is misleading about tax increases and it pretends the city is cutting spending when the budget has increased every year since 2014.”

The CTF identified three misleading claims in Nenshi’s letter that accompanied residential property tax bills.

Issue 1: Nenshi claims he has kept taxes “below inflation and population growth since the beginning of this latest downturn in 2014.”

Truth: The residential property tax increase (22 per cent) has outpaced inflation and population growth (16 per cent) since 2014, accoridng to data in the city's annual reports. Taxpayers would have saved $216 million between 2014 and 2019 if the city’s residential property taxes merely increased with inflation plus population growth.

Issue 2: Nenshi claims that council “has identified over $740 million in cuts and savings.”

Truth: There have been zero cuts to the city’s total budget. Instead, the city’s spending has increased every year since 2014 and is now $460 million higher than it was before the downturn began, according to the city’s 2018 and 2019 annual reports.

Issue 3: The mayor includes a list of services tax dollars fund, including police, fire, transit, roads, the environment and parks.

Truth: The city’s list of taxpayer-funded services leaves out controversial items, such as:

• The $100 million corporate slush fund;
• Nearly $300 million approved for the Flames’ owners to build a new arena;
• Costly council pension plans and the mayor’s second pension;
• Hundreds of city employees receiving multiple pensions; and
• Labour costs increasing by hundreds of millions of dollars since the downturn began in 2014.

“Nenshi should have included an apology with his tax hike instead of trying to cover up bad council decisions with a misleading letter,” said Terrazzano. “When companies put out faulty products, they issue a recall and taxpayers expect Nenshi to recall his faulty property tax letter and tell the truth this time.”