Letter: Increase in property tax will lead to homeowners leaving Ontario

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 26, 2023

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says we need 1.5 million homes by 2031. This is to help house the federal government’s announced immigration of 500,000 new residents per year.

I’m no math prodigy, but with a calculator, it’s understood that 500,000 new residents a year, over 10 years, is five million new people in Canada. Keep that in mind.

The premier says we need 1.5 million homes in the next nine years. Let’s calculate: 1.5 million homes at a very conservative three people per home, is 4.5 million people housed in Ontario. Just in Ontario.

So, Ontario alone will provide 4.5 million people with new homes in the next eight years -- a significant total amount for all of Canada.

What about current residents and the population that will expand through new babies? According to Ontario’s government website, our population growth is projected to be 14 per cent, with 86 per cent of our population growth coming from new immigrants to our province.

Included in Ford’s projections are the highest amount of property tax increases ever seen in Ontario, with some towns like East Gwillimbury projecting a 100 per cent increase for residents.

In Stouffville, we can expect a 52.3 per cent raise in taxes over five years.

How many newcomers to Canada will be able to afford a new home when the price includes a climbing property tax rate?

Perhaps the premier does not understand these tricky numbers. Someone might tap his shoulder and suggest that Bill 23 is driving new residents away from Ontario.