CAQ tables legislation for flat-rate school tax

Quebecers — including QUEBEC Montrealers — are headed for a flat school tax, regardless of where they live. After presenting legislation on government appointments and cannabis, the Coalition Avenir Québec government ticked another item off its to-do list Thursday: tabling a bill to establish a single school tax rate. The bill was sent for further study by a committee of the legislature, so it can be adopted sometime in 2019. The bill proposes to gradually reduce the rate to $0.1054 per $100 of evaluation across Quebec over the next four years. It currently varies from region to region, from as low as $0.105 per $100 of evaluation to a high of $0.31. The government plans to compensate school boards for the losses. The estimated cost over four years was supposed to be about $700 million but, at a news conference to explain the bill, Finance Minister Éric Girard revealed the real amount could be closer to $900 million, depending on the length of the transition period and fluctuations in evaluations. “The most important thing, and I feel I need to repeat it, is that this legislation will have no impact on the financing of school boards or on the education system,” Girard said. He made it clear the bill is provincewide. That means it will include the island of Montreal, which has its own school tax system. One agency, the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire, collects school taxes on behalf of the five boards on the island: the Pointede-l’Île board, Montreal School Board, English Montreal School Board, Lester B. Pearson School Board and Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Board. The rate currently is set at $0.17832 per $100 of evaluation. The rate is the same for the francophone and anglophone boards. In 2018-2019 the committee billed Montreal ratepayers a total of $524 million in taxes. One big question Girard appeared unable to answer is how the benefits of the new system will help renters, because the tax break applies to property owners. Girard said the government is acting in good faith and hopes owners choose on their own to pass along any savings. “The direct effect is desirable, the indirect effect would be welcomed,” he said. Girard admitted much of the mechanics of the new system have yet to be worked out, but during the election, the CAQ said the owner of a $280,000 home in Saguenay — Lac-St-Jean could save as much as $520 a year in taxes. The owner of a house of the same value in Montreal would save $186. Reaction was chilly from the opposition parties, who said students will suffer because the money will disappear. And one prominent think-tank, the Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques, described the new system as regressive. It said the system will imperil a significant amount of school board funding. On his way into question period Thursday, Premier François Legault said it was about time the situation was corrected. “It’s unacceptable, for example, that people in the Saguenay — LacSt-Jean and people in the Mauricie pay school taxes which are three times higher than the rates in other regions,” he said.