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Brampton's tax rate is near average
March 15, 2005
- Brampton Guardian
Brampton's residential property taxes are not out of line with others in the GTA and comparable cities across the province, according to city officials.
Responding to some criticism that Toronto has a lower residential tax rate (.889 per cent) than Brampton (1.1969 per cent), city officials say it isn't a fair comparison if the higher cost of housing in Toronto compared to Brampton isn't taken into consideration.
Don McFarlane, Brampton's director of revenue, said property tax comparisons cannot be limited to the tax rate.
"It's a two-sided equation. You can't just look at one side," McFarlane said.
Taxes are calculated using two components: the tax rate (or mill rate) and the assessed value of a home.
"To look at one without looking at the other doesn't give you a clear picture," McFarlane said.
He said in one city a single-family home could be valued at $200,000, while in an identical city that same house is valued at $400,000. He said it isn't comparing apples with apples if you just look at the taxes paid on a $300,000 house in Brampton and a $300,000 house in Toronto. In Toronto's real estate market, $300,000 buys a lot less than it does in Brampton, he said.
When Brampton officials compare the city's tax rate with other cities, they look at the taxes paid on the same size and type of home. For instance, in 2004 the average owner of a "senior executive" home paid $4,082 in property taxes in Brampton. In Toronto-- despite a lower tax rate-- the same type of house came with an average property tax bill of $6,892, according to a BMA Management Consulting Inc. report done for the City of Brampton last year.
That same report shows a detached bungalow in Brampton came with an average property tax bill of $2,723 in 2004, while a comparable house in Toronto had an average property tax bill of $3,209.
Using the same house-to-house comparison across the province, Brampton falls below average for property taxes on the executive home, and is just slightly above average for the detached bungalow.
However, Brampton doesn't fare too badly in a province-wide comparison of just the tax rate, either. According to the same study, Brampton's 1.1969 per cent tax rate is well below the 1.4184 per cent average.
Toronto's rate is unusually low in that comparison, but Toronto also has $1.4 billion in debt, Brampton city officials point out. Brampton is debt-free.
Other tax rates in 2004 (municipal and education) include:
* Brampton- 1.1969 per cent;
* Barrie- 1.3348 per cent;
* Hamilton- 1.7071 per cent;
* Mississauga- 1.0253 per cent;
* Oshawa- 1.6431 per cent;
* Windsor- 1.689 per cent;
* Ottawa- 1.2836 per cent;
* Vaughan- 1.0121 per cent;
* Peterborough- 1.5736 per cent;
* London- 1.5734 per cent;
* Kitchener- 1.4196 per cent;
* Orangeville- 1.4208 per cent;
* Oakville- 1.0693 per cent;
* Burlington- 1.0916 per cent.
The question of how Brampton's property taxes compare to other cities does come up from time to time, according to spokesperson Marta Marychuk.
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