Delivering City services and determining your property tax bill
Municipal property tax dollars make up about 50 per cent of The City's annual operating budget. The other half is collected through user fees, permits and licencing, grants to name a few. The City delivers services and programs that Calgarians need and value every day. Your input, along with several key decisions and dates influence the property tax bill you receive each year.
When all the property tax inputs are known, your property tax bill is mailed in May
During budget deliberations and at different times of the year you may hear about changes to the tax rate. It’s important to remember this is only one input of the calculation that will determine your property tax bill. After all inputs are determined, your property tax bill is calculated and mailed out at the end of May each year.
There are three main inputs required, and they are:
- The City Budget
- Property assessments
- The Provincial Budget
Council may also approve changes to how property tax is distributed between residential and non-residential properties that can impact your tax bill. Today, the distribution of municipal taxes for residential properties is 52 percent vs 48 percent non-residential.
The City Budget
The first of three inputs determined is the City Budget, which is typically decided upon in November and finalized in the spring. This is the amount, after subtracting all other sources of revenue such as user fees and provincial grants, The City needs to deliver the services citizens value.
This change is referred to as the municipal tax rate change but may not match the change you see in your tax bill. This is because there are two more inputs to come.
2023 overall municipal tax increase (excluding development and redevelopment growth).
Property assessment
The second input required is the assessed value of all Calgary properties. The total assessed value of Calgary properties is used to calculate the tax rate and your property value is used to calculate your tax bill. The City works throughout the year to determine the typical value change of all Calgary properties and sends out your assessment notice in January.
Your property’s assessed value compared to the typical value change for your property class determines the share of property tax your responsible for.
Typical value change for residential properties is 12 per cent.
Typical value change for non-residential properties is 2 per cent.
The Provincial Budget
The Provincial Budget is the last input required to calculate property tax rates and your tax bill, and it’s typically released in April. Approximately, 35% of your residential property tax dollars collected goes to The Province
The City collects property tax on behalf of the Province, a total of $782 million. Although the total provincial requisition was frozen in 2023, The City’s requisition increased due to growth in residential and farmland assessment, a total of $4.5 million.
Get an estimate of your tax bill
Use our property calculator to estimate what your property tax bill is before it is mailed in late May. As inputs become known in January and April, the tax calculator is updated to provide you with a more accurate property tax bill estimate.
- Property tax bill estimate before your bill is mailed late May
- Detailed breakdown of your property tax bill
- See rate of change
- How we invest your property tax dollars in City services that matter the most.
Still have questions? Visit the Property tax and assessment frequently asked questions page.