Property tax in Calgary is always a testy issue among citizens, particularly when intertwined with the narrative that the City of Calgary doesn’t deliver value for those tax dollars.
In the most recent spring survey of Calgarians, 46 per cent of citizens indicated they felt they received good value for tax dollars, which is up from a low of 43 per cent in fall 2024, but significantly down from long-term trends which show numerical results the mid-50s.
In contrast, 52 per cent of Calgarians surveyed indicate they’re willing to take a tax increase to maintain or increase services, with 41 per cent in favour of cutting services to maintain tax levels or reduce taxes.
(Editor’s note: LWC has included the question asked in the spring survey for context on how people might answer it.
Q. Municipal property taxes are the primary way to pay for services and programs provided by The City of Calgary. Due to the increased cost of maintaining current service levels and infrastructure, The City must balance taxation and service delivery levels. To deal with this situation, which of the following four options would you most like The City to pursue?)
In the LWC 2025 candidate survey, we asked two questions that addressed these topics: taxation and service levels.
Also worth noting that among the 64 respondents to the candidates survey, property taxes ranked third among candidates in terms of their perception of its importance to voters. That’s behind affordability and public safety, but ahead of citywide rezoning.
For context, according to the City of Calgary, each approximate $24 million represents one per cent of a property tax increase (or decrease).
As an example, to eliminate the current blended 3.6 per cent property tax increase for 2026, ~$87 million in reductions would have to be found in next year’s budget.
More, less, same – and tax positions
When the desire of candidates to have more services is juxtaposed with nearly half proposing a freeze or some sort of cuts to the budget, it presents a challenging mix.
The vast majority of candidates who responded to the survey wanted more… of almost everything: Transit frequency, pothole fixes, public engagement, parks, police officers, trees and fire service. Some wanted more bike lanes, too, though the majority wanted the same or less.
Further, most of the parties have spent the past months promising a cast of additions: 500 police officers, more transit frequency, bolstered downtown safety, more infrastructure, traffic calming, more firefighters and a fire commission, all of which presumably cost money.
Mayoral candidate Jeff Davison is campaigning on a four-year tax freeze. He said recently that a $220 million projected surplus makes that possible. (Note: The projected surplus is largely due to an increase in investment income. This fluctuates from year to year.)
“Calgarians are tightening their belts. It’s time City Hall did the same. With growth, reserves, and over-taxation padding the books, we can hold the line on taxes and still protect what matters most—police, fire, transit and roads,” he said.
Upon further review, Davison is planning a freeze to the mill rate for four years, which is the tax rate multiplier by which Calgarians’ property tax is calculated. In recent years, the mill rate has actually gone down in some cases because the overall residential property value has gone up, while the city maintained a certain budget level.
Under a potential mill rate freeze, Calgarians could potentially pay more in property taxes relative to the value of their homes, with no flexibility to adjust it down, as was done in 2024 and 2023. Davison’s platform does not indicate that flexibility.
Mayoral candidate Sonya Sharp responded with a property tax cut. Earlier in the campaign, when asked how the city would pay for her proposed 500 new officers, she said there was money to be found in the budget.
While it’s unclear if Sharp proposes a cut to the current proposed tax increase (3.6 per cent), or a cut of the budget overall to reduce property taxes, in a property tax cut situation, city council would not only have to reduce the overall operating budget, it would also not be able to keep up with inflationary costs.
Mayoral candidate Jeromy Farkas suggested that the city’s budgetary needs, and therefore property taxes, should fluctuate from year to year based on needs.
Brian Thiessen, mayoral candidate for the Calgary Party, didn’t address the question directly in his response, as other mayoral candidates did.
“Property taxes should be used responsibly — funding visible results like better roads, reliable transit, and safe neighbourhoods. Calgarians deserve value for every dollar,” he wrote.
“We support smart, managed growth that invests in infrastructure and amenities people actually use, not bloated budgets or projects disconnected from community needs.”
Jyoti Gondek did not respond to the survey.
Many of the respondents suggested a review of city operations before determining their direction on property taxes.
“We should attempt to keep it steady for a few years while we dig into the spending practices of the City, before we think about increasing taxes again. Barring that, increase by inflation only,” wrote Ward 14 candidate Ryan Stutt.
Still, others suggested different taxation methods, like taxing wealth. While this has been suggested in the past, any change to the taxation method would require a provincial change to the Municipal Government Act.
“My platform includes starting discussions on eliminating residential property taxes in favour of other more fair taxation,” wrote mayoral candidate Sarah Elder.
For full candidate responses, stay tuned to LWC’s election coverage, where you can view ward-specific responses to these questions.
