Taxation

The highest average residential tax burdens tend to be found among the province’s smaller , although HRM and some larger towns such as Truro, New Glasgow, and Bridgewater also are at the higher end of the scale on this measure. The lowest residential tax burdens tend to be in the rural , although RMQC and the of Antigonish also report relatively low figures.

Guysborough, which has the lowest average residential property tax burden at $215, has the highest share of total property taxes accounted for by commercial property taxes. Other municipalities that, like Guysborough, have large industrial facilities (mills, fish plants, power plants, etc.), such as, Richmond, Oxford, and , also derive a relatively large share of property tax revenues from commercial sources. The range on this statistic is very wide, from Municipal District of Lunenburg at the low end with 6% to Guysborough’s figure of 62%.

Turning to debt, the average debt burden expressed as a percentage of the ’s total property tax assessment base is 0.83%, and of the 48 municipalities that reported statistics, most are at less than 1%. stands out with the highest figure of 3.47%; the second-highest, Mulgrave, has a figure of 2%.

User fees as a percentage of own-source revenue is a useful measure in that it gives a sense of the extent to which the “user pay” principle is applied in a municipality. Data for this measure are not available in , however.

Average Rank Commercial Taxes Rank Municipal Debt as a Rank Residential (Out of as a Percentage of (Out of Percentage of Total (Out of User Fees as a Rank Tax Burden, 55- Total Property Tax 55- Property Tax 48- Percent of Own (High Average Low-To- Assessment, Low-To- Assessment, Low-To- Source Revenue, to Municipalities 2004-2006 High) Average 2004-2006 High) Average 2004-2006 High) Average 2004-2006 Low) Amherst $853 29 32% 45 1.03% 31 $1,006 40 29% 40 0.23% 7 Annapolis $534 10 9% 6 0.45% 15 Antigonish () $607 13 9% 7 0.33% 11 Antigonish (town) $626 15 26% 32 0.27% 9 Argyle $706 21 13% 13 Barrington $669 16 19% 24 0.58% 20 Berwick $1,135 49 30% 43 1.13% 36 Bridgetown $1,044 43 19% 25 1.17% 39 Bridgewater $1,132 48 37% 49 0.87% 29 Canso $691 19 28% 39 0.73% 25 Cape Breton $862 31 17% 17 1.13% 36 Chester $677 17 8% 2 0.50% 17 Clare $534 9 14% 14 Clark's Harbour $860 30 26% 34 0.52% 18 Colchester $496 7 19% 23 1.03% 31 Cumberland $479 5 18% 22 0.20% 5 Digby (district) $591 11 15% 16 Digby (town) $885 32 29% 41 1.50% 43 East Hants $750 23 9% 5 Guysborough $215 1 62% 55 Halifax Regional Municipality $1,247 52 20% 26 1.60% 44 Hantsport $1,147 50 46% 52 0.40% 12 Inverness $530 8 13% 11 0.10% 2 $921 33 28% 38 1.07% 34 Kings $594 12 17% 19 0.40% 12 $978 38 30% 44 0.74% 26 Lunenburg (district) $703 20 6% 1 0.63% 22 Lunenburg (town) $1,480 55 24% 30 0.57% 19 Average Rank Commercial Taxes Rank Municipal Debt as a Rank Residential (Out of as a Percentage of (Out of Percentage of Total (Out of User Fees as a Rank Tax Burden, 55- Total Property Tax 55- Property Tax 48- Percent of Own (High Average Low-To- Assessment, Low-To- Assessment, Low-To- Source Revenue, to Municipalities 2004-2006 High) Average 2004-2006 High) Average 2004-2006 High) Average 2004-2006 Low) Mahone Bay $1,401 54 22% 28 0.27% 10 Middleton $1,086 46 27% 37 1.37% 42 Mulgrave $764 24 44% 51 2.00% 47 New Glasgow $1,046 44 29% 41 0.47% 16 Oxford $783 26 47% 53 1.00% 30 $776 25 14% 15 0.15% 3 (county) $446 4 27% 35 0.20% 5 Pictou (town) $1,066 45 18% 21 1.13% 38 Port Hawkesbury $1,109 47 35% 47 3.47% 48 Regional Municipality of Queens County $493 6 22% 29 0.80% 27 Richmond $352 3 53% 54 0.25% 8 Shelburne (district) $707 22 12% 9 0.01% 1 Shelburne (town) $929 35 27% 36 0.84% 28 Springhill $830 28 13% 12 1.90% 46 St. Mary's $320 2 35% 46 $995 39 26% 33 0.60% 21 $1,015 41 17% 19 1.03% 33 Trenton $933 36 22% 27 0.70% 24 Truro $1,040 42 37% 48 1.33% 41 Victoria $688 18 17% 18 0.65% 23 West Hants $617 14 8% 2 Westville $945 37 9% 7 1.67% 45 Windsor $1,202 51 26% 31 0.40% 12 $1,341 53 12% 10 1.10% 35 Yarmouth (district) $783 27 8% 4 0.19% 4 Yarmouth (town) $922 34 38% 50 1.18% 40 Average $828 24% 0.83% Minimum $215 6% 0.01% Maximum $1,480 62% 3.47%