Right wing ramblings from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| Right wing ramblings from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. | |
I liked most of what the CSR did back in the Harris days, but CVSA wasn’t one of them. Here’s why:
While Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin’s report has accurately and precisely identified many of the problems with MPAC, the real problem lies outside his mandate; and that is current value assessment (CVA).
CVA ties property tax to a market, the real estate market. Markets can be very volatile, and the real estate market is no exception. Arguably, over the last several years, the real estate market in Toronto has been more volatile than the stock market.
Because CVA depends on a market, the assessment of a person or a business is totally outside the control of that person, and totally unrelated to his financial means. You may have been able to afford your house the day you purchased it, but your next assessment might take it outside your affordability range.
If a powerful developer is prepared to pay a high price for your property or for other properties in your area, or if someone is prepared to pay a huge price for the cottage property next to yours, your assessment skyrockets, often to levels beyond your ability to pay.
The result is that people are being forced out of their properties, residences, businesses, cottages.
In some cases, property owners are counting on the unrealized capital gain to support themselves during their retirement.
As expressed by John Cartwright, representing the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, in a deputation to the City of Toronto’s Policy and Finance Committee last October: “Ontario’s system of property taxation is the only instance in Canada where tax is imposed on unrealized capital gains.”
There is something inherently wrong in a tax system which forces people out of their properties, and it is that aspect of CVA which really needs to be addressed.
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