FYI. If you wanted to do a reverse mortgage, property tax deferral has to be paid out. In some cases you can start again though, if the reverse mortgage holder agrees.
It would be interesting to see the changing stats regarding Property Tax Deferral program (if any). Many of our friends are in the position where they can defer their taxes(age and paid for homes ) but financially most have decided to continue to pay their property taxes because like us they value the services provided by our taxes and for those of us who are are able to continue to pay property taxes, even more so for those of us who are childless we see an additional social and moral obligation to pay our taxes for the good of society.
However, as the publication of municipal salaries becomes easier for people to access, there seems to be more resistance to these individuals continuing to pay when they can defer.
In my job, I see the salaries of a lot of people, and I understand the value of being a government or municipal employee especially for the immense value of the retirement benefits both pension and health and welfare post retirement benefits.
For decades the common belief was that civil servants were paid less but their pension plan sort of leveled the field. I believe that the tide has turned and for the average person, their best financial decision would be to get a government job if for no other reason than the salaries are comparable and the retirement benefits provided are unattainable for the majority of Canadians.
What is happening is that people who we know who could defer and yet pay their taxes and now talking openly about deferring for the first time because they can, not because they need to.
This has the potential to create a cash crunch for municipal governments.
As someone who has multiple times appealed my property taxes , I am tired of having the same level of unmigrated ********
tossed about by BC Assessment. If every house on a street is on a 50 foot lot but one and that house is on a 30 foot lot I still find in incomprehensible that the value per square foot of that 30 foot lot is significantly higher.
I have been unable to find any academic study that argues or states that a smaller residential lot is worth more per square foot than a larger one. If anyone has such a study I would be grateful to get a copy.