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Toronto Sun: Push for 5% property tax cap

Antonella Artuso, Queen's Park Bureau Chief

April 28, 2006

A new property owners' coalition intends to lobby for a 5% cap on annual assessment increases.

Bob Topp, a spokesman for the Coalition After Property Tax Reform, said they speak for 700 different groups and ratepayer organizations representing a potential half-million Ontario voters. The coalition, which described itself as non-partisan, intends to poll MPPs on their support for a cap and share the findings.

"We hope that the government, facing as it does a fight for re-election in a little more than a year, will listen to the legitimate concerns of Ontario homeowners and move swiftly to deal with an issue that has begun to spread like wildfire across the province," Topp said.

He said more than half the assessments delivered to property owners for this taxation year increased by more than 10%. One-fifth rose 20% or more, and there have been numerous reports of assessments rising 50%.

The coalition is fighting to cap increases at 5% annually to avoid wildly fluctuating assessments in volatile markets.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday that all MPPs are receiving "calls, letters and e-mails" from constituents unhappy with the system. "What we intend to do is to take our time, to approach this in a way that is both thoughtful and responsible and to ensure that we get this right."

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