The Ford government announced in November that it would permit municipalities to reduce the cost of property taxes for small businesses but it has not yet released technical regulations that will lay out the parameters for the program and with Toronto council scheduled to approve their budget later this month, time is now running out for the city to provide the relief to businesses in 2021.
“We all celebrated the provincial budget announcement that proposed new authority for municipalities to adopt a special tax and reduce tax rates for small business properties.
But she said that the COVID-19 pandemic has made that situation worse by forcing a wide swath of businesses to close with limited means to generate revenue to cover property tax bills that sometimes treat their businesses as if they are high-rise condominium towers.
Make it 100% and be done with it. In a few weeks there will be no small business to pay it anyway.