Today, The City of Calgary launched a new website called Tax Talk to help Calgarians understand where their tax dollars go, The City’s service priorities for 2009-2011, and what The City has done to respond to the recession. The site has the full story on what changes are being recommended for 2010, and features an interactive calculator which shows how your residential property taxes are used to fund municipal services and how your municipal property taxes compare across Canada.

Citizens pay taxes to three levels of government and it isn’t always easy to understand what services are provided by the local level of government. This interactive website makes the story easier to follow, and is organized in three sections.

In the “Tax Talk” section of the site, citizens are able to input the amount of their taxes into a tax calculator and become familiar with the services they receive for their tax dollars and the value those services bring to the community.

They are also able to see how their own property tax bill compares to 20 other cities across Canada.

In the “Spending Wisely” section of the site Calgarians are able to view what’s in The City’s budget for 2009-2011; what’s been accomplished in 2009; how The City tightened its belt to respond to the economic climate; and what’s in the business plan and budget adjustments for 2010.

In the City Services section, City staff tell their story about the services they provide to citizens.

Visit calgary.ca/taxtalk for full details