It’s important to be well informed. Especially now.
Bad information often spreads even more quickly than fact-based, verifiable information. Why? Because anger, division, outrage all get clicks. Orders of magnitude more clicks than well-founded information. It’s the reality we live in today.
Case in point, I have written the below editorial in response to some social media posts that are predicated on inaccurate information. But these posts and the emotional response they naturally engendered spread like wildfire. Dousing the flames is difficult. But for those that are interested in a pragmatic attempt to do so, here is my response to the flurry of inquiries I have received from residents about a “proposal to eliminate the tax cap,” which is, in a single word, false.
There is no “proposal” before council to remove the tax cap.
I expect the emails I’m receiving are in response to some discussions occurring online about this topic. I’ve seen at least a couple social media posts on the subject, and I’ve now fielding quite a number of emails about them. They start with, and build upon, factual misstatements. This makes it tough to know how to address it properly without starting at the beginning, which I’ll do here.
HRM Council doesn’t control the property tax cap, the Province does. One of the posts suggested that Councillor Steele was going to make a presentation to Council about removing the cap. HRM Councillors don’t make presentations to council. Staff do that.
The presentation scheduled to come to council on September 29th is a presentation from staff to Council that will outline the findings of a publicly available staff report Council asked for to understand the impacts of the property tax cap in its current form – on everyone. We see some of the symptoms in what’s happening in the marketplace. But anecdotal evidence doesn’t provide a robust understanding of a subject matter through a common lens.
A motion of Council for a staff report to dispel the myths and get to the facts
In December of 2025, Councillor Steele made a motion, supported by Council, to ask staff via the CAO’s office – from planning and land use, to regulatory, compliance and finance – to prepare a report that tells us what should we know about how the tax cap influences the cost of housing, impacts to low or fixed income households, mobility in the market, rental costs, inequities in tax and service costs, investors buying up homes, etc. I won’t editorialize the contents of the resulting report – instead I’d prefer that residents read it for themselves. The report was published on the Friday prior to the August 25th 2026 meeting of council and is available online here:
This 25 page report is comprehensive and I encourage residents to read it to develop a strong understanding of what thus far the province has not discussed with the public – that the tax system that funds municipalities is actually a growing root cause of some of the affordability challenges we see in the province today. It’s even more pronounced in Halifax. It remains the Province’s problem to fix.
A staff presentation of the report to council facilitates further questions to be answered
What’s due to come to Council on September 29th is a presentation of the information contained in the report. When we ask staff to make a presentation on a report they have written, it affords Council an opportunity to ask questions of the expert staff that prepared it. Those questions are themselves answered publicly for all residents to hear the answer. Additionally, our questions are influenced by the feedback we receive from members of the community like you – so it’s like you get to ask questions of staff as well. We do our best to leave no stone unturned.
Part of our job on behalf of residents is to seek out information that helps with deeper understanding to strengthen representation
Council’s stewardship of the municipality is strengthened by doing our homework, helping residents be aware of what the challenges are, and helping them to have fully informed conversations with us and with our counterparts at the Province. Even if the Province eventually decides to undertake some form of municipal tax reform – and we don’t know what that might look like, since it’s a huge hypothetical with many moving parts – the likely and responsible thing will be to roll it out carefully over a long period of time. That too would be their call.
An informed Council has residents’ backs and vice versa
I hope this gives every resident comfort. Reading the report will give residents strong insight into what everyone should know about the pressures on housing affordability. And watching the discussion at Council on September 29th (which is live on YouTube and then available for replay any time) will provide even greater detail. I would encourage residents like you, reader, who made it this far and are engaged in the subject matter to have a productive and positive conversation with your representative on Council to help inform the questions we ask of staff on September 29th. I take that job very seriously, and I expect residents do too.