Property taxes: Libs sending a conflicting message

If you haven't heard the latest, a few weeks back Justice Minister TJ Burke (or the "blogger general" as he's known in the blogosphere) was allegedly forced to take down a frank and to the point blog post on his new blog "Say it like it is" where he described provincial property taxes in three words, ""Wow ... they suck!!"

He went onto describe his own personal situation in Fredericton, but I won't get into that (you can read my original post here). Anyway, the main question here IMHO, which is still outstanding with regards to his missing blog post, is: just why was he forced to 86 this post? And who demanded that he do so?

OK, some readers may see it as pointless for "us" bloggers to continue on with our noble crusade regarding this matter, but as I see it, the government now has three conflicting arguments out there in the public sphere on where they stand on high property taxes, so at the very least, they owe NBers an explanation to just what the mindset "really" is in the premier's office on this issue, no? I mean here's what we got so far on property taxes from the Liberal cabinet:

First, we have a Finance Minister --- Victor Boudreau --- who is on record (on the eve of the last budget) stating that "the insurance premium tax on property, at 3%, is equal to that in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, and lower than in Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Québec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia." But just a few months later, he flip-flopped somewhat on his original statement in that his government would be open to changes in the assessment process on property since, as he said, the "Green Paper will outline options to significantly reform the tax system to better facilitate income and wealth generation by all New Brunswickers, and make the province more attractive to investment and high paying jobs." So essentially, property tax (assessment system) should be included in this reform since hardworking folks (who work high paying jobs or regular jobs at that) look at such things when relocating to another province. Anyway, if you're the counting type, that's two messages from good ol' Victor.

Second, just a few months after the budget was dropped by Boudreau, we had Attorney General and Justice Minister TJ Burke come out strong against high property taxes stating on his own blog that "Now, generally I don't complain about taxes, but holy cow what a tax burden I am facing this year! I know many other New Brunswickers saying the same thing. Enough said." I agree with TJ, enough said. But wait?

Here's where things start to get complicated as just a week after posting his frank commentary on his blog, the post magically disappeared. I'm sure nobody would have noticed since he had posted a few more post on top of that one (essentially burying it to the bottom of the page), but thanks to spinks (who I know to be a person who pays attention to detail), the pulling of the blog was outed. Thus, sparking the local MSM to go on a witch hunt both on the radio and in the newspaper for definitive answers regarding TJ's missing blogpost. A witch hunt which led to another conflicting set of circumstances with regards to property taxes and TJ Burke. Just what was it?

Well, since the deafening silence of TJ Burke could be felt clear across the Miramichi all the way to Fredericton, Service NB Minister Greg Byrne decided to jump into the frey on behalf of his cabinet friend stating that Burke must have been misguided in his statements because he "doesn't mind paying taxes." Huh? That's peculiar? Anyway, he went on to tout one of the so-called party lines on property taxes and lumped his own message on the matter into a conversation he said had taken place with Burke, "I have had many conversations with the minister and he certainly recognizes that the property tax assessment system is a fair system and that the asset that you have and the asset that he has, is his best asset." Well, after reading his original blogpost, he could have fooled me. Ha! Ha!

So there you have it folks. We have a Finance Minister who thinks the property assessment system to be so good that he had a tax expert from CD Howe come in to review it, we have an Attorney General who thinks property taxes seriously suck and we have a Service NB Minister who thinks his colleague, TJ Burke, is delusional since he told him he doesn't mind paying taxes and thinks they're great! Talk about a conflicting bunch when it comes to property taxes.

Anyway, I apologize if this post sounded a bit confusing, that's because it was. Which is why I think Mr. Burke could save us all a big headache by clearing up this mess. The ball is in your court Teej.

H/H/T (Huge Hat Tip): Spink About It.