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Esquimalt taxes out of control

Property taxes continue to go up and up, to the dismay of longtime resident

Re: Esquimalt budget talks continue (News, March 21)

This is in response to Ms. Brames’ comments about yet another property tax increase in Esquimalt. She claims it has to be done in order to maintain the levels of service we have come to enjoy.

Here’s how that typically political statement stands up. I bought my current home in Esquimalt in 1985. We had our own police force, garbage pickup every week – from the  backyard – and an annual debris cleanup (desks, chairs, sofas, etc.); all the items residents now decorate your boulevards with.

Care to guess what my net taxes were then? $775.

Now we have to rent our police from Victoria, garbage pickup is every two weeks and the annual cleanup is gone, “in an effort to save money.”

My net taxes in 2011 were $3,200, an increase of 412 per cent. While it is true that the value of my home has risen by four times, that asset is only realized if I sold it and lived in a van by the river.

So I ask you Ms. Brame, where is the value in yet another tax increase when we are paying too much now? We are literally being taxed out of the homes in which we grew up and raised our families.

Rod Sauder

Esquimalt