Municipal Property Assessment Corporation

Last updated
MPAC (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation )
FormerlyOPAC (Ontario Property Assessment Corporation)
Type Crown corporation
Industry Real estate accurately assess and classify all properties in Ontario an independent, not-for-profit corporation funded by all Ontario municipalities.
FoundedDecember 31, 1998
FounderGovernment of Ontario
HeadquartersONTARIO, ,
Canada
Number of locations
35
Area served
Ontario
Key people
Nicole McNeill (President and Chief Administrative Officer)
Owner Government of Ontario
Number of employees
1700 [1]
Parent Government of Ontario
Website www.mpac.ca

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) administers property assessments and appeals of assessment in the province of Ontario, Canada. [2] [3] [4] MPAC determines the assessed value for all properties across Ontario. This is provided in the form of an Assessment Roll, which is delivered to municipalities throughout the province on the second Tuesday in December. Municipalities then take the assessment roll, and calculate property taxes for each individual property in their jurisdiction. MPAC complains that taxpayers often confuse MPAC's role as an assessment agency for taxes; MPAC responds that it only provides assessments. Municipalities set the tax rates and distribute the tax burden based on the assessed values provided by MPAC.

Contents

The head office is located in Pickering, Ontario. MPAC, formerly known as OPAC (Ontario Property Assessment Corporation), was created on December 31, 1997, as a method to create accurate and equitable assessments across Ontario. MPAC came into existence with the MPAC Act , and it administers the Assessment Act , both part of Ontario provincial legislation. On December 31, 1998, the Government of Ontario transferred responsibility for property assessment from the Ministry of Finance to the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation, an independent body established by the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation Act, 1997. [5]

Prior to the creation of MPAC, municipalities in Ontario had discretion on how they chose to assess properties. This created inequity across the province, as similar properties across the province had separate values.

In 2022, MPAC sent out approximately 6 million property assessment notices, advising properties of their assessment value. The current values are based on a January 1, 2016 valuation date. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario government postponed the 2020 Assessment Update. They indicated that property assessments for the 2022 and 2023 property tax years will continue to be based on the fully phased-on January 1, 2016, current values. In August 2023, the Ontario government announced that it was postponing a provincewide property reassessment as it conducts a new review of the accuracy and fairness of the system. In 2022 alone, MPAC added more than $37.8 billion to municipal rolls across Ontario through its assessments of new construction and renovated properties. Municipalities pay more than $200 million annually for this service.

MPAC history

Pre-1970

Although property assessment originally came under the jurisdiction of Upper Canada, it was transferred to Ontario municipalities in 1849. Over time, each municipality developed its own assessment system and methods of valuing property. This resulted in inconsistencies in property assessment and the distribution of property taxes. Within a municipality, properties with a similar appearance and value could have very different assessments. There were also very different assessments from municipality to municipality. [6]

In 1963, the Provincial Government appointed the Ontario Committee on Taxation to study taxation and recommend changes. Its report, published in 1967, highlighted many inequities in the assessment system. [6]

1970-1997 – Market value assessment introduced

In response to The Ontario Committee on Taxation Report, the Provincial Government assumed responsibility for property assessment in 1970 to create a uniform assessment system for all Ontario municipalities. The Government introduced market value assessment and the new system was offered to municipal governments on a voluntary basis. [6]

Since the new system was voluntary, not all municipalities implemented market value assessment. As a result, property assessments differed from municipality to municipality. This situation was addressed by the Province with the introduction of the Fair Municipal Finance Act, 1997. With this Act substantial amendments to the Assessment Act, the Municipal Act and other related legislation were implemented, setting the stage for reshaping Ontario's assessment and property tax system in 1998. [6]

Post-1997 – Ontario Fair Assessment System

Under the "Ontario Fair Assessment System", property assessments across the province were updated to their current value, using a common valuation date.

In addition, on December 31, 1998, responsibility for property assessment was transferred by the government of the Hon. Mr. Mike Harris to a new, not-for-profit corporation called the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation, later renamed the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). Every municipality in Ontario is a member of MPAC, which is governed by a board of directors composed of taxpayer, municipal, and provincial representatives. [6]

Controversy

Persons living in areas where other houses increase in value, such as by replacement with newer and larger houses, often blame MPAC for increases in their taxes. MPAC disclaims responsibility, arguing that the property owners should blame the municipality.[ citation needed ] The municipalities, in turn, blame MPAC and its organizing legislation.[ citation needed ] The debate is ongoing. The value or price of a property is decided in the real estate market not by MPAC

Toronto Star Investigation

In 2023, a Toronto Star investigation into the accuracy and fairness of property assessments found that MPAC systemically under-assessed more expensive homes and over-assessed less expensive homes, which causes a disproportionate tax burden on lower and middle-income homeowners. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

A property tax is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taxpayer</span> Person or organization subject to pay a tax

A taxpayer is a person or organization subject to pay a tax. Modern taxpayers may have an identification number, a reference number issued by a government to citizens or firms.

The Canada Revenue Agency is the revenue service of the Canadian federal government, and most provincial and territorial governments. The CRA collects taxes, administers tax law and policy, and delivers benefit programs and tax credits. Legislation administered by the CRA includes the Income Tax Act, parts of the Excise Tax Act, and parts of laws relating to the Canada Pension Plan, employment insurance (EI), tariffs and duties. The agency also oversees the registration of charities in Canada, and enforces much of the country's tax laws.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system, superannuation legislation, and other associated matters. Responsibility for the operations of the ATO are within the portfolio of the Treasurer of Australia and the Treasury.

In Canada, taxation is a prerogative shared between the federal government and the various provincial and territorial legislatures.

Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government. Some other countries have taxes with a more or less comparable role, like France's taxe d'habitation.

An ad valorem tax is a tax whose amount is based on the value of a transaction or of a property. It is typically imposed at the time of a transaction, as in the case of a sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). An ad valorem tax may also be imposed annually, as in the case of a real or personal property tax, or in connection with another significant event. In some countries, a stamp duty is imposed as an ad valorem tax.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is the ministry of the Government of Ontario that is responsible for municipal affairs and housing in the Canadian province of Ontario. The current Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing is Paul Calandra.

Income taxes in Canada constitute the majority of the annual revenues of the Government of Canada, and of the governments of the Provinces of Canada. In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, the federal government collected just over three times more revenue from personal income taxes than it did from corporate income taxes.

A local service district (LSD) was a provincial administrative unit for the provision of local services in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. LSDs originally covered areas of the province that maintained some services but were not made municipalities when the province's former county municipalities were dissolved at the start of 1967; eventually all of rural New Brunswick was covered by the LSD system. They were defined in law by the Local Service Districts Regulation of the Municipalities Act. In 2017, the Municipalities Act was replaced by the Local Governance Act, which continued the Local Service Districts Regulation.

Alberta Municipal Affairs is a ministry of the Executive Council of Alberta. Its major responsibilities include assisting municipalities in the provision of local government, administering the assessment of linear property in Alberta, administering a safety system for the construction and maintenance of buildings and equipment, and managing Alberta's network of municipal and library system boards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Act 60 (Vermont law)</span>

Act 60, known as "The Equal Educational Opportunity Act", was a Vermont law enacted in June 1997 by the Vermont legislature intended to achieve a fair balance of educational spending across school districts, independent of the degree of prosperity within each district. The law was in response to a Vermont Supreme Court decision in the Brigham vs. State of Vermont case, wherein the court ruled that Vermont’s then existing educational funding system was unconstitutional, because it allowed students in towns with higher total property values to receive a higher level of education funding per pupil than students in towns with lower property values. Act 60 was followed by Acts 68 and 130, which addressed some imbalances caused by Act 60.

Tax assessment, or assessment, is the job of determining the value, and sometimes determining the use, of property, usually to calculate a property tax. This is usually done by an office called the assessor or tax assessor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Tax Agency</span> Official tax collecting agency of Japan

The National Tax Agency is the official tax collecting agency of Japan. As of October 2018, the Commissioner of NTA is Takeshi Fujii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wisconsin Department of Revenue</span> Wisconsin State Agency charged with administering state tax laws.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) is an agency of the Wisconsin state government responsible for the administration of all tax laws, as well as valuing property and overseeing the wholesale distribution of alcoholic beverages and enforcement of liquor laws. The Department also administers the state's unclaimed property program and the state lottery.

Boyer v. Boyer, 113 U.S. 689 (1885), was a suit in error brought in a state court of Pennsylvania for an injunction restraining the commissioners of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania from levying a county tax for the year 1883 upon certain shares in the Pennsylvania National Bank, an association organized under the National Banking Act. The suit proceeds upon the ground that such levy violates the act of Congress prescribing conditions upon state taxation of national bank shares in this, that "other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens" of that county is exempted by the laws of Pennsylvania from such taxation. A demurrer to the bill was sustained and the suit was dismissed. Upon appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, that judgment was affirmed on the ground that the laws of the state under which the defendants sought to justify the taxation were not repugnant to the act of Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Property tax in the United States</span>

Most local governments in the United States impose a property tax, also known as a millage rate, as a principal source of revenue. This tax may be imposed on real estate or personal property. The tax is nearly always computed as the fair market value of the property, multiplied by an assessment ratio, multiplied by a tax rate, and is generally an obligation of the owner of the property. Values are determined by local officials, and may be disputed by property owners. For the taxing authority, one advantage of the property tax over the sales tax or income tax is that the revenue always equals the tax levy, unlike the other types of taxes. The property tax typically produces the required revenue for municipalities' tax levies. One disadvantage to the taxpayer is that the tax liability is fixed, while the taxpayer's income is not.

Inheritance and gift taxes in Canada have a complex history dating back to Canadian Confederation. They are beginning to see a return to prominence in the provincial sphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land Tax Act 1910</span>

The Land Tax Act 1910(Cth) and the related Land Tax Assessment Act 1910(Cth) were Acts of the Parliament of Australia which imposed a progressive land tax on the unimproved value of land. They were enacted in November 1910 by the Fisher Labour Government intent on breaking up a number of very large holdings of underutilised, arable land that was secured during the colonial period.

The Assessment Review Board is an independent, quasi-judicial agency in Ontario, Canada. It is one of 13 adjudicative tribunals under the Ministry of the Attorney General that make up Tribunals Ontario.

References

  1. "MPAC" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
  2. "Welcome to MPAC > Property Owners > Guide to Property Assessment in Ontario". Archived from the original on 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  3. "How to appeal property assessment | Canadian Justice Review Board".
  4. "Assessment Review Board :: Municipal Act Appeals". Archived from the original on 2011-11-27. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  5. "About MPAC". MPAC. Archived from the original on 2010-09-08. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "MPAC History". Archived from the original on 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  7. "Troubling property tax trend hitting Toronto's cheapest homes while mansions catch a break, Star investigation finds" . Retrieved 2023-07-18.