There's Something Rotten at MPAC

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) has a tremendous amount of power. They classify and assess the value of all properties in Ontario. They look at the properties that have sold in your neighbourhood and these provide the basis for assessed values. If a house on my street sells for $1m that jacks up the value of my property. The assessed value of my property went up 38.08% this year, despite the fact that we've done nothing to improve it. Well, I got in a bit of a snit about this and decided to beard the lion in its den - an MPAC open house. The Client Services Manager listened to my arguments, checked on his computer and agreed that my property had been overassessed by $80,000! Yes, you read it correctly, $80,000. MPAC's system of calculations is, at best unstable and the repercussions of these inaccurate assessments can be devastating. So they knocked $80,000 off the assessed value of my house and I'm still looking at an increase in the 18% range. This monster was created by the Mike Harris Conservative government and, true to form, there is not a residential property owner without commercial or development ties on the MPAC Board. Remember that residential property owners pay 90% of property taxes in Ontario and that the MPAC Board is 100% funded by the property taxes of people like you and me. Unlike businesses we can't write off our property taxes. Damn right I'm pissed off (alright, I'll stop now).