Ontario’s Property Reassessment Officially Deferred

Earlier this summer, a group of industry and municipal organizations wrote to Premier Doug Ford, urging his government to move forward with the long overdue reassessment. The organizations behind the July 14, 2023 letter included the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and six other organizations. The group warned that the delay in reassessment “is compromising the province’s economic competitiveness” and that frequent reassessments are needed in order to “stabilize and make taxes more predictable.” 

Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy, has officially responded to these organizations, advising that the “government will conduct a review of the property assessment and taxation system that will focus on fairness, affordability and business competitiveness.” Additionally, the government will be “exploring modernized administration tools to provide support to municipalities with ongoing assessment base management and increased access to data, to enhance the transparency and equity of future assessments.” 

While this review is ongoing, and in order to maintain stability, the government has announced a further deferral of the province-wide property assessment. On August 16, 2023, the government filed Ontario Regulation 261/23 which, among other things, officially extends the January 1, 2016 current value assessment base year to apply to the 2024 taxation year.