Bill 23 means Brampton residents will be paying much higher property taxes

In last week’s blog, I indicated Bill 23, the Provincial Government’s Building New Homes Faster Act 2022 would mean higher taxes for Brampton property owners. The Bill was passed by the Ontario legislature on Monday. Brampton staff have been working hard to analyse the bill and now the extent of the impact is emerging.

Brampton homeowners could see property tax increases estimated at up to 80%. Yes, you read that correctly. Brampton residents could be looking at their tax bills going up by as much as 80% over the next 10 years not including inflation or additional programs and services.

The Province is asking Brampton to pledge to build 113,000 residential units between now and 2031. A few of those units are targeted to accommodate existing residents who are currently living in unsuitable conditions. The vast majority, however, will be used to satisfy population growth over the next decade, estimated at 400,000 people.

The people and houses coming to Brampton will require infrastructure and services including, water, sewers, roads, transit, fire, police, schools, daycare facilities, libraries, recreation centres and parks.

Historically developers contributed to the cost of infrastructure and services through permit fees, development charges and cash-in-lieu mechanisms. In an effort to incentivize the developers to build more homes faster, Bill 23 takes much of this burden away from the developers and places it squarely on existing property owners. Growth no longer pays for growth. Existing taxpayers are now required to subsidize developer profits!

At last week’s Committee of Council meeting, Brampton city staff presented the impact of Bill 23 on City finances and the one-time equivalent impact on Brampton’s existing tax base. Here is a summary:

Reduction in standard development charges on homes over $800K$440M
9% tax increase
Loss of development charge revenue based on a change to the definition of “affordable homes” from ~$400K to $800K$260-800M
5-16% tax increase
Growth related study and land acquisition costs no longer eligible to be funded by development charges$91-211M
2-4% tax increase
Additional cost of providing infrastructure and services to the new developments$2,000M
40% tax increase
Loss of parkland cash-in-lieu payments$700-1,500M
14-21% tax increase
Total impact$3,491-4,951M
70-90% tax increase

It is unlikely we will see increases of this magnitude but we will see a combination of tax increases, deferred spending and reduction of services. We face a major belt tightening that will affect the quality of life for every resident in the city.

If you weren’t angry at our Provincial Government for the impact this bill will have on parkland, wetlands and other environmental protections, this hit to your pocketbook should be a wakeup call. If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to call your MPP and let them know how you feel.


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