Important community issue that could change how things get done.
Sim
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"The reason MPAC failed was that it did its appointed job so effectively. By creating the perfect machine for determining market-value assessment, a policy-maker's dream, successive Ontario governments have proven definitively that market-value assessment is a disaster. By accepting the fact, Mike Harris's heir has brought a long, rancorous debate to a satisfying end.
Although Liberal Finance Minister Greg Sorbara still clings to the pure faith of yesterday's Tory technocrats, criticizing the alleged inequity of assessment caps, he doesn't dare put his belief into action. If there is any property-tax news in the coming budget, it surely won't be the re-activation of the Finance Minister's favourite property-tax system. The longer he waits to do it, the bigger the attendant shocks become.
And, at the same time, the more obvious the social benefits will become. Old people and established families will no longer face tax-driven eviction from houses and neighbourhoods they have occupied for years, if not generations. The tax system will no longer penalize families for choosing an urban, transit-dependent lifestyle rather than moving to the suburbs and buying a second car. The cottage will be safe."
globeandmail.com: The failure of a flawless public-policy machine
Mpac
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