CTF's Property Tax Backgrounder


Toronto: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation today is calling on the Ontario government to disregard the 2005 property assessments, as determined by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), until the province's property tax system is reformed to provide greater equity, predictability, and value for money to Ontario property taxpayers.

"In light of Ombudsman André Marin's investigation into MPAC, and rising taxpayer outrage, property tax assessments from 2005 should not be accepted and the values from 2003 should be maintained for assessment purposes," said CTF Ontario Director Tasha Kheiriddin. "The system is broken and needs to be fixed before taxpayers are hit with another round of assessment increases."

The CTF is calling for an assessment freeze and the immediate institution of a reform process to investigate alternatives to the current value assessment system. The CTF recommends doing away with annual assessments, instituting a property tax cap, and creating a greater link between taxes and services received, by incorporating elements of unit-based assessment into the property tax system.

To this end, the CTF is launching a new petition calling on the government to freeze assessments at 2003 levels and to begin anew the property tax reform process. The petition can be accessed on the CTF's website at www.taxpayer.com.

"Taxpayers are seeing their assessments go through the roof while they can barely keep the roof over their heads," commented Kheiriddin. "The time to act is now. The government must address this issue before these new assessments take effect on January 1, 2006. We do not want to see taxpayers forced out of their homes by this unworkable and unfair property tax system."