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Appalled by Horgan’s $400 renters plan

Appalled by Horgan’s $400 renters plan
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Appalled by Horgan’s $400 renters plan

While I do not either support or not support the NDP, I take extreme exception to John Horgan’s plan to give $400 to each and every renter in this province, regardless whether they are millionaires in a Vancouver penthouse, or the poor living in rental units in the suburbs.

His reasoning behind this golden handshake is that homeowners receive the homeowners grant while renters receive nothing. As a homeowner living in my own home worth upwards of a half million dollars, I would like to say that my wife and I worked hard all our lives to pay for this home. We paid taxes on the property when we bought it, we paid taxes on every stick of lumber in it, we paid taxes on every fence, every paved driveway, every amenity within our boundaries. Every year we pay property taxes based on our assessed value. These taxes include schools, fire departments, hospitals, parks, among other assessments. Renters pay none of this. The person that owns the building they live in, however, does.

In my opinion, paying $400 to a renter is merely double-dipping the property owners who are already taxed to death. We have to pay the taxes that John Horgan so generously wants to hand to those that don’t.

The homeowners grant that my wife and I claim, by the way, amounts to about $300 dollars a year, that’s 25 per cent less than the bonus being handed to the renters. Four hundred dollars, by the way, is about $33 a month. This is in no way going to promote home ownership, or in any way going to help with a mortgage payment. It is merely another hit to a large segment of taxpayers who yet again will feel used and abused by a twisted government policy that makes zero sense.

Gord McAulay

Saltair