I suppose it's all relative. "Buy what you eat; eat what you buy." Canned tomatoes should last 3 years, and if you are actively eating them at say 1 tin a month, that allows for a cache of roughly 36 cans before you have to start throwing the oldest away.

I don't keep canned tomatoes because I don't eat them. I do keep canned pears and pineapple. Pineapple has acid and the use-by date is just a couple of years, but I consume it fast enough not to matter.