PICTURE BUTTE, Alta. – Alberta farmers and rural municipalities are urging the province to separate education tax from property tax.
Farm taxation is under provincial government review by an MLA committee. At a public meeting here, a number of rural politicians and farmers suggested change is needed.
“Property tax is not an avenue by which education should be funded,” said Ian Donovan, a councillor in the County of Vulcan in southern Alberta. Property taxes should fund municipal services only, he said.
About half of the revenue collected from property tax, $1.3 billion, is directed to provincial funding for education. This is about half of the $2.8 billion education budget.
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In 1993 the government announced education tax collected through the municipalities would be distributed by the province in order to spread education dollars more equitably among school boards.
“Education is a service that is completely unrelated to property. It should not be the responsibility of the municipal government but a responsibility of the provincial government,” said Susan Aris, reeve of the Municipal District of Pincher Creek.
“The money may be distributed fairly, but it is not collected fairly,” said Aris.
Norm Ward, president of the Western Stock Growers Association, was also in favor of pulling education tax out of the property tax base.
He said society as a whole should pay for education either through a residential tax, provincial sales tax or higher income tax, which the government has sworn not to implement.
“The government has painted itself into a corner with sales tax and income tax,” Ward said.
The stock growers recommend education tax on residences rather than the entire farm. They also suggest the farm residential tax exemption be phased out if the government removes education tax from farmland.
