Another Look at the Room the City of Toronto Has to Raise Residential Property Taxes: Focus on Owner-Occupied Single-Detached Houses
By: Frank Clayton with research assistance provided by Candace Safonovs
March 28, 2019
The Centre for Urban Research and Land Development (“CUR”)’s recent research report, How Much Room Does the City of Toronto Have for Increasing Residential Property Taxes? (February 28, 2019), examined the property taxes paid by owner-occupants regardless of the types of housing occupied. Thus, the average property taxes paid; the effective tax rate (taxes as percent of average market value of owner-occupied homes); and the tax burden (taxes as percent of household income) in the 29 municipalities within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (“GTHA”) reflected property taxes for a mix of housing types. This has analytical implications as the City of Toronto has many more condo apartments than do other municipalities.
This note concentrates on residential property tax rates for one housing type – single-detached houses – in order to conduct a fairer apples-to-apples comparison.