Toronto tax-payers live on easy street

Toronto homeowners just may be the most pampered, tax-sheltered, spoiled-rotten ratepayers in the GTA. The residential property tax hike to be approved at Toronto City Hall today or tomorrow is expected to be 3.75 per cent ““ among the GTA’s lowest. Oshawa, in assessment-poor Durham Region, will hike taxes 4.61 per cent, and neighbouring Whitby, 5.67 per cent.

Little wonder residents outside the downtown core frequently write letters to the editor exasperated at Toronto’s call for provincial funding of services. They look at a $380,000 house in Toronto and see a tax bill of $2,322, while a similarly priced home in Oshawa pays taxes of $5,745.

The owner of a $380,000 home in Pickering pays $4,270, while the Bramptonian pays $3,729 and residents of Markham, Mississauga or Vaughan pay more than $2,922. Toronto’s neighbours wonder how Mayor David Miller can cry poor but refuse to tax Toronto homeowners at rates comparable to their municipal cousins.

Why is it that, hypothetically, a senior in Pickering can afford a 5 per cent tax hike, but Toronto politicians argue that a similar hike on a Toronto senior will push her out of her home?

See article in the Toronto Star »