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PAGE 14, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1979, WHITBY FREE PRESS roperty tax reform is to put equity in the system says George Ashe, MPP Recently George Ashe, M.P.P. came to the Whitby Progressive Conservative Association's Annual mee- ting from two other events. He was present at the inaugural meeting of the unless Ajax Board of Trade and the 30th Anniversary of the Ajax Kinsmen Club. Mr.* Ashe'spoke to a gat- hering of at least 30 people on the implications of the pro- posed "Property Tax YOU Reform Program" for the home owners, businessmen and the municipalities. He said, "There is no doubt that over the years there have been tax inequities. Most of the inequities go back to the assessment base." Originally the assessment was done on a County to County basis, says Mr. Ashe. As he pointed out, there are various Counties and cities throughout the Province. The basis of the assess- ment in the various counties and cities "developed a pattern. As a result of the pattern, inequities in assess- ment and -taxation devel- oped," he said. Due to the formation of the unequalized pattern the Province made an effort to solve the problem. The pro- blem was solved by the Province taking back the assessment of lands and properties, and freezing the factors of basic assessment. There has not been any change in the basic assess- ment since 1970 on how much each municipality in the County should pay on 'the assessment. He pointed out that the municipalities receive a "grant support from the Province." The properties will be assessed on their market come forth value. "Market value" was defined by Mr. Ashe as the value paid by a "willing buyer to a willing seller." He pointed out that "each and every property in the Province of Ontario will be individually assessed. They went irougtih a time when housing prices changed and the work that was done was already out dated. This work had been updated in 1976 and the Province is now coming forth with a Property Tax Reform prograrn." Mr. Ashe says, "One can't have anything that is pure." Mr. Ashe pointed out that the assessed residential value of the property will be based on 50 per cent of the market value while the com- mercial and industrial pro- perties will be assessed on 100 per cent of their market value. "The property tax reform is to put equity in the system, not to raise more taxes," Mr. Ashe said. "There will be a lot of exempt properties, (properties exempt from paying taxes) that are not going to be exempt from paying taxes." For example both Federal and Provincial government properties are exempt from municipal taxation. At the present time both Govern- ments are paying grants in lieu of taxes to the municipa- lities. Mr. Ashe expressed the hope that the Province and "hopefully the Federal Government will pay taxes in place of grants in lieu of taxes." Basing some examples on the effect of the tax reform, Mr. Ashe, reading from a computer-write-out, said that in 1976 in Whitby on the average, a single family home with a $617 property tax, under the projected sys- tem would be reduced to a $508 tax average. ANNUAL MEETING Family and Children s Services ( Operated bv the Children s Aid Society of the Durham Region) THURSDAY. MARCH 8, 1979 at 8:00 p.m. St. Gertrude1s Parish Hall 690 King St. East Oshawa, Ontario GUEST SPEAKER Judge George Thomson Associate Deputy Minister Ministry of Community and Social Services Nomination of members to stand for election to the Board of Directors must be made by members of the Society in writing and must be in the hands of the Secretary of the Board (P.0. Box 321 Oshawa) seven days before the Annual Meeting. EVERYONE WELCOME REFRESHMENTS He said that the newer homes are paying more than their fair share of the tax equity. A newer home of $100,000 is paying 50 per cent more operating taxes, than an older home of the same value. The older homes are pay- ing for the services in their taxes whikèthe newer homes in the developments are paying for the development of roads and services in the real-estate value of the home. He said, if the equity tax reform system had gone into effect, the 1977 Whitby tax rate for a single family home set at the "average" of $675 taxation would have gone down to "an average" taxa- tion of $547. "The inequities are quite general right across the Province," Mr. Ashe said. "The worst example of inequities in the tax system is the Cambridge area. There, identical properties across the street from each other had 100 per cent descri- pencies. They were identical onses built by the same firm . but in different mun- icipalities, they are just across the street from each other. One wasp~alng twice as much as !ne other in taxes, but they were identi- cal properties, and this was brought out when the two muncipalities came together into one. Under Section 86 of the Assessment Act, a munici- pality can ask the Province to bring forth equity within a property class, Mr. Ashe said. A property class can be either residential property, commercial, or industrial or farm property classes. In order to bring equity to them, one must go back- wards to assess and equate one property to another. There are more than 13 DRALrEA POSSIBLr DREI!AMr Whitby District Boy Scouts desperately need ADULT LEADERS NOWI For further information call 668-6303 or write Box 141, Whitby, Ontario M. VG L1N 5R7 un un municipalities in the Pro- vince who have already asked to have this done for them. Two of the Municipa- lities within Durham Region are Uxbridge and Newcastle. "There is no doubt that are some unhappy-people there; as there would be in some cases an increase and in others a decrease in the taxation. There could be a substantial increase on vacant lots. That is land held by the developers that is not productive farm land." Even if the vacan lot is, or was faim land and is not being used for farm pur. poses, it is classed as a vacant lot being held for speculative purposes. "The increases on vacant lots, the land being held by developers, may in the long run help to reduce the value of taxes and hopefully a reduction in the price of housing," Mr. Ashe said. He pointed out that there are two more muncipalities in the Durham Region ask- ing the Province to "bring forth equity." They are Oshawa and the Township of Brock. These are only some of the 834 municipalities in the Province of Ontario that are to be taken into considera- tion in bringing about 'the equity of taxation. Mr. Ashe said, "in bring- ing equity, one generally has as many people unhappy as there are happy. But you don't hear from the other group whose taxes have been reduced as a resuit of the equity." Mr. Ashe pointed out that there wasa furore in Toronto and Metro Toronto in re- gards to the equity system. If the Government had gone through with the proposed plan it would have been toppled. In Toronto and Metro Toronto, "the single family dwellings were going to have substantial increases and the owners weren't happy about that, Mr. Ashe said. "If we had gone through with the equity plan, due to the hue and cry that would have followed, the minority Government could have been defeated. The Opposition Parties would have forced an election and by going to the polls we would have lost. It is just as plain and simple as that. It was politically not feasible." 100 BOYS cannot enjoy Scouting JOHN BANDURCHIN Ckarterei A ccountant 111 BROCK STREET NORTH WHITBY, ONTARIO TELEPHONES: BUS: 668.4341 RES: 655-4045 »-i