Help For Homeowners
By Jeff Gray - Globe and Mail
In an effort to change the Byzantine process in which homeowners must engage to appeal their property tax assessments, the Ontario government plans to put the onus on the assessment agency to prove its case when a taxpayer appeals.
Yesterday’s provincial budget promises new legislation - as recommended in a critical report by the province’s ombudsman two years ago - to put the burden of proof on the Municipal Property Assessment Corp., instead of on homeowners.
The move comes in addition to a new property tax grant for low- and middle-income senior citizens that is meant to help them stay in their homes as property taxes rise. In addition to existing tax credits, the new grant would see eligible seniors, depending on their incomes, get a maximum additional $250 in 2009, and $500 in 2010.
“This will help keep seniors in their homes,” said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, citing rising property taxes that are forcing some on fixed incomes to sell their houses.
The government also promises other changes to the appeal process, meant to make it “more streamlined and transparent,” including a new, free-of-charge first phase to resolve disputes in an “informal manner.”
Provincial officials are also working on ways to get MPAC to share more information with taxpayers, the budget document said.
The new rules are supposed to be in place for 2009.
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory dismissed the moves yesterday.
“The onus should always have been on MPAC and on the government,” Mr. Tory said.
“Citizens should not be put in the position where they have to prove themselves or make their case to the government.”
He said the government should implement all of the ombudsman’s recommendations on changes to MPAC, not just one.
Mr. Tory said a Conservative government would bring in a 5% cap on property-tax assessment increases, instead of phasing in increases as the McGuinty government started doing in 2007: “That just means people will lose their homes over a longer period of time. We would have provided permanent, real, lasting protection for people.”
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