Board cancels property taxes for Sudbury landowners living in poverty

Ontario’s Assessment and Review Board has cancelled the $3,468 in property taxes owed by two Greater Sudbury landowners.

Ontario’s Assessment and Review Board has cancelled the $3,468 in property taxes owed by two Sudbury landowners.

The unnamed pair appealed to the board to cancel the 2023 taxes levied on their property, which is worth an estimated $256,000. They have a mortgage balance outstanding on the land of about $80,000.

They claimed extreme poverty as the reason.

The two residents showed they had a combined monthly income in 2023 of $4,646, drawn from CPP benefits, Old Age Security, GST rebates, climate incentive payments, employment income and other government payments.

Monthly deficit of $2,350

Their average monthly expenses amounted to $6,996. With monthly expenses $2,350 higher than their income, they met the threshold of extreme poverty, the board ruled in a Feb. 3 decision.

Greater Sudbury was then instructed to provide details of how much the couple owed. The board was told taxes totalled $3,468.49, penalties were $989.01 and other costs were $28.

“Having determined that the applicants were unable to pay the property taxes levied in 2023 due to extreme poverty, the board finds that the property taxes are cancelled,” the decision said.

However, the board “has no jurisdiction to adjust the amount of penalties, interest or other amounts on the tax account.”

Read the full decision here.