{"id":511811,"date":"2026-03-03T15:06:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/511811\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:06:36","slug":"bell-jeromy-farkas-battles-danielle-smith-in-epic-tax-hike-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/511811\/","title":{"rendered":"Bell: Jeromy Farkas battles Danielle Smith in epic tax hike fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

The news hit the street and Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas hit the roof.<\/p>\n

Late last week we find out what the Alberta government led by Premier Danielle Smith has in store for Calgary property taxpayers this year.<\/p>\n

For the typical single-family home the Smith government is hiking the property tax by $339 a year.<\/p>\n

For some the increase will be smaller, for some even larger.<\/p>\n

Immediately, some Calgarians are confused. Did I say the Smith government is increasing property taxes? How is that possible? They aren\u2019t city hall.<\/p>\n

I find it hard to believe some Calgarians still do not know they pay property taxes to both city hall and the Alberta government.<\/p>\n

Calgarians, most of what you pay on your property tax bill is set by city hall, but part of what you pay is set by the Alberta government.<\/p>\n

So, this year, on the Smith government side of the property tax bill it is a whopping $339-a-year hike for the typical single-family home. On the city hall side of the bill it is just $49.<\/p>\n

Farkas says the province\u2019s property tax hike is massive<\/a> and very tough to swallow in one ugly gulp, calling it the largest jump in property taxes in Calgary\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

A fire is finally lit under Farkas, the one-time firebrand councillor who promised to put us to sleep as mayor.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

Fed-up Farkas says the Smith government should realize the lion\u2019s share of Calgary\u2019s population growth and economic growth has been in Calgary.<\/p>\n

The mayor says for too long Calgarians have assumed the yearly hike in property taxes is all about city council and nothing to do with the provincial government.<\/p>\n

Farkas says he wants to be crystal clear with Calgarians about who is responsible for the big tax increase. He points to Smith.<\/p>\n

The Calgary mayor is not done. He even mentions the E-word. Equalization.<\/p>\n

Farkas wants the Smith government to show Calgarians what they are getting for the tax hike.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the purpose of this tax increase? Where is the money going? How does it improve our city?<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise property taxes are being jacked up on Calgarians and being spent elsewhere. We are just seeing another version of equalization like Alberta being taken advantage of in Confederation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to push back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Alberta Minister of Finance Nate Horner takes media questions before delivering Budget 2026 at the Queen Elizabeth II building in Edmonton on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Nate Horner is Smith\u2019s budget boss who revealed last week the Alberta government\u2019s finances are in a sea of red ink<\/a>, spending more dollars than what is being collected, with oil prices low and a surge of people who came to the province wanting services.<\/p>\n

Horner defends the provincial property tax hike, sometimes known as the education portion of the property tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just not Calgary that\u2019s going to feel it, obviously,\u201d says the Alberta budget boss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a place right now where we have education costs certainly on the rise as we try to catch up with the population growth. I\u2019m sure the mayor wants to see all the schools we need to build in Calgary come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horner does not try to put sugar on a $339 property tax hike.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand everyone is paying. This is something we need to do. We said it last year. This shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. I know the mayor is new but they knew this was coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farkas and city council are holding a gabfest Wednesday to talk about the province\u2019s tax increase.<\/p>\n

There is a desire at city hall to make it clear on individual property tax bills how much cash the city is taking in property taxes and how much will be going to the provincial government.<\/p>\n

Horner has no problem making the tax arithmetic obvious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage them to do that if that\u2019s what they\u2019re worried about. I\u2019m not trying to hide from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t help but wonder where Dan McLean, the pull-no-punches councillor, stands on this issue.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Coun. Dan McLean with Nate Horner, Alberta\u2019s President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance, as the Calgary Chamber of Commerce hosted the Minister of Finance at the Fairmont Palliser in Calgary on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n

McLean is no fan of tax hikes though he doesn\u2019t believe there should be a special council chinwag to jaw over this tax hike.<\/p>\n

He says it just looks like politicians wanting to perform a little political theatre.<\/p>\n

The councillor says the Smith government is forking out more funds from such things as schools and health care.<\/p>\n

McLean does wish there was more fiscal responsibility in the province\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

Does he believe conservative-minded voters in Calgary will be angry at the $339 tax hike?<\/p>\n

These are the Calgary voters Smith needs come next year\u2019s Alberta election.<\/p>\n

McLean admits there will be people upset but then they will consider their options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the NDP and their leader Naheed Nenshi holding the pen it would be way worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the showdown is on.<\/p>\n

Farkas has said he wants to make Calgary city hall boring again.<\/p>\n

So much for boring.<\/p>\n

rbell@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The news hit the street and Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas hit the roof. Late last week we find…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[26353,49,2798,48,53105,109504,29721,59309,50991,172284],"class_list":["post-511811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-alberta-government","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-danielle-smith","tag-jeromy-farkas","tag-property-tax","tag-property-taxes","tag-provincial-government","tag-tax-increase"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}