Today's letters: Ottawa's new vacant-unit tax is unfair

Vacant-unit tax unfair to homeowners

Re: Letter, Will ‘vacant unit tax’ do its job? Nov. 30.

To me, the “vacant-unit tax” is nothing more than another tax grab to recover monies lost from the LRT project. Again, the taxpayer is made to pay for the ineptitude of city hall.

I own and live in my home year-round, and pay outrageous taxes. The city has all this information at its disposal, so why am I insulted and inconvenienced by having to complete a declaration of vacancy or non-vacancy?

As well, I discerned an underlying “threat of sorts” in the VUT letter saying the declaration has to be filed by March 16, 2023 or else the unit will be deemed vacant and the owner charged the tax. Smacks of dictatorship.

Marylou Gauthier, Ottawa

New tax unfair to many seniors

So the powers that be think that it’s a good plan to force the vacant-unit property tax on homeowners to declare if their home will be unoccupied. To not respond to this ultimatum will cost already overburdened homeowners extra on their tax bill.

There are a great many seniors who are not savvy when it comes to electronic devices and who, unable to comply with the online order, are vulnerable to this increase even though their homes may never be vacant. These citizens worked for their belongings, and in many cases put money aside in order to secure their future.

Meanwhile, if an individual rents out his/her property and the renter moves in and then refuses to pay the rent, it may take years to evict that person. Where is the justice for these homeowners ?

Dave Currier, Barrhaven

Stop Ford’s attack on democracy

Re: Mayor Sutcliffe doesn’t want the power to pass bylaws with more than a third of council support, Nov. 16.

Premier Doug Ford needs to be stopped. His new legislation is are an attack on democracy. With a stroke of a pen, he has managed to remove the voting rights of millions of Canadians whose democratically elected municipal representatives could have their voices silenced under the new mayoral powers.

He has stripped away environmental protections, leaving our sensitive wetlands and agricultural land open to development by developers whose goals are just profit. He has dumped the costs of infrastructure into the laps of municipal taxpayers, which can only lead to a huge increase in property taxes while the developers enjoy even more profits.

The basic fundamentals of our democracy are  being attacked. We cannot let these issues go unchallenged.

Robert Broatch, Ottawa

Use common sense in social settings

I got a kick out of the recent “Social Scene” page in the paper. Everyone looking happy and healthy as they gathered close to each other. But no masks — except CHEO’s Alex Munter.

We’re told it is safer to wear a mask, wash our hands often and keep six feet apart, but I don’t see this happening. It would be nice if the rules were consistent and if, with no mandates, we at least used common sense and tried to keep others safe.

Karen Holden, Nepean

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