FPTV Ep 6 The Property Tax Issue Pt 1 The Homestead Act
Ontario's current property tax system requirements The Value of Each home taxed to Be Assessed. Allegations thats the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation has made unfair or erroneous ratings of The Value of homes led Recently The Ontario Government to freeze property values Until After the general election of 2007. In 2006, Ontario PC MPP Tim Hudak has Proposed 5% cap on The Annual Increase In The Deemed value of homes. PC Leader John Tory has made it clear the 5% cap That Is To Be A major plank in party history's 2007 election platform.
In this first of a two-part episode of FPTV, Freedom Party of Ontario leader Paul McKeever examined Hudak's Proposal, and Explains How It Would have a problem with Without Addressing the Fundamental Problems Associated with property taxation.
You are right, the term "mill rate" is commonly used, just not in Ontario. It means an amount of tax per thousand currency units of property value (taxes are calculated by multiplying the assessed value of the property by the mill rate and then dividing by 1,000). In Ontario, we have "tax rates" which are simply a percentage of the assessed value.
Posted on September 3, 2010
Sau Falconio says...
It's not called a mill rate, (hasn't been for many years) it's called a Tax Rate. In your example of the municipality with two properties where one increases in value, the tax obligation of the property whose value remains static does not go down as you indicate. Unless there is a decrease in the tax rate, value increases merely mean a windfall for the municipality.
Posted on September 4, 2010
Terisa Billotte says...
There is a way to "fix" the property tax(PT). The PT taxes two things, improvements and land. Improvements get their value from human effort and investment in materials. Land not being man made gets its value 100% from the community as a whole. Population and public services create and increase land value. If the PT tax was only on land value most homeowners would pay far less because they now subsidize vacant land speculators and those who do not maintain their improvements like slum lords.
Posted on September 6, 2010
Veda Huszar says...
This is an excellent overview of how municipalities tax people. Everyone should watch it. It also explains how stupid the Hudak iniative is.
The Hampton plan is even nuttier than the Homestead Act.
But re: municipal taxation. The thing is, that this money pays for important local services. The taxation in itself is not bad. What's bad is that few people really take the time to see where their municipal taxes go or to make sure that they aren't wasted.
