Report: Vaughan tops the list of the least expensive cities for residential property taxes

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 8, 2021

Vaughan residents pay the lowest residential property tax in Ontario at 0.006 per cent in 2021, according to data compiled by LowestRates.ca.

While there are 51 cities in Ontario, LowestRates was able to obtain property tax information for only 32 cities in this province.

“So this is of course not an exhaustive or completely representative list,” said the Toronto-based independent Fintech company which works by compiling and comparing data for insurance, credit cards or loans, for example.

LowestRates said not all cities have updated their data for 2021. “That said, it gives you an idea of where you’ll pay the most and least for residential property tax in the province right now,” it added in its report.

When approving its budget for 2021, Vaughan city councillors kept their promise when they said that there will be no increase to the property tax rate to reduce the burden on families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

So far, the five least expensive cities in Ontario for residential property taxes in 2021 are:

1 - Vaughan (0.006%)

2 - Burlington (0.007%)

3 - Kitchener (0.011%)

4 - Clarence-Rockland (0.012%)

5 - Belleville (0.016%)

The top five most expensive cities in Ontario for residential property taxes in 2021 are:

1 - North Bay (1.56%)

2 - St. Thomas (1.55%)

3 - Sarnia (1.53%)

4 - Peterborough (1.45%)

5 - Thorold (1.41%)

The report explained the dichotomy behind these two lists.

"Cities with lower-valued homes and smaller populations tend to boast higher tax rates because there are fewer taxpayers overall who are able to contribute," it said. "The opposite tends to be true of cities with higher-valued homes and larger populations; they generally have more flexibility when it comes to setting the property tax rate."