No Davids in Goliath Jr.’s tax battle
Re A small shop shouldn’t be taxed like a massive condo, Keenan, Aug. 4 Myths should be thought of not as falsities but as simple, dramatic stories we tell each other in order to explain complex phenomena.
It is therefore unfortunate that in a week where prices for rental properties in Toronto are reportedly at an all-time high, Edward Keenan would choose to invoke the David versus Goliath myth, as it applies to smaller versus larger commercial property owners along the city’s most famous street.
Keenan is right to worry about the homogenizing effects massive tower blocks are having on the city. But both locally and globally, this corporate monoculture is not the outcome of some aberrant property tax system. Rather, it is monopoly capital acting just as it should. The large eat the small until all that is left is an urban desert of uniformity.
But a clash between a small elite of privileged property owners of varying sizes and degrees is likely to elicit little sympathy when so many are struggling just to survive, regardless of how it is framed.
In the larger context, this is more like Goliath versus Goliath Jr., where there are fewer winners than ever. And they certainly do not include the Davids who comprise the vast majority of the city. Robert Bertuzzi, Hamilton I believe Toronto is single-handedly responsible for the increasing number of significant property tax increases faced by downtown businesses. The provincial property assessments provided by MPAC rightfully take a very broad view of the tax base, but it’s the municipalities that decide how taxes should be paid.
In Toronto’s case, we unfortunately decided long ago to discount residential tax at the expense of businesses. These chickens are now coming home to roost.
If we use 2014 as an example, and presume businesses and residential paid the same property tax rate, businesses would have paid nearly 63 per cent less. To council’s credit, steps are being taken to even out the tax ratio, but it’s a longterm plan with little relief for current displaced businesses. Phillip Roh, Toronto