Taxes as a tool for development

Thunder Bay residents and business pay a lot in taxes. This money is necessary to provide the services which the city is responsible for. It will be up to the incoming council to conduct a thorough analysis of how this money is spent and track down inefficiencies.

Our downtown cores and major corridors are blighted with a series of vacant, decrepit, and derelict properties. This can be associated with a suppressive effect on tourism, and activity in these areas.

The incoming council will have an opportunity to examine the tax structure, and modify it to serve long term ends. Specifically, which areas bear the weight of the tax burden. Adjusting tax rates on vacant or derelict properties in target neighbourhoods will provide incentive for land owners to redevelop, lease out, or sell properties which are sitting empty.

Council needs to stop seeing property taxes as merely a source of income, and start using them to realize a vision for a prosperous city. First, we need a council which is capable of holding this vision, with the skills and tenacity to see it through.