MPAC and the MVA system

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MVA?

The Ombudsman confirmed what was widely known by many taxpayers in Ontario, that MPAC was abusing their power as they administered the MVA system. Many individuals also knew of wide and inexplicable variations in the assessments from MPAC. It is also clear that MVA as applied by MPAC is variable, unpredictable, subjective, secretive and intrusive. It penalizes well-kept properties, and rewards slums. Statscan called it "regressive", penalizing seniors and others on low and fixed incomes, taxing an imaginary future profit of sale.

They are also less than honest when they claim that their assessments are based on market value. If that were the case, why does the sale value of a property not become the revised assessment? Instead, MPAC uses a complex "multiple regression analysis" program that they claim contains over 2 billion pieces of data, to produce their confusing and variable results.
The worst feature is that there is no connection between the real or imaginary value of a property and the need for or use of local services.

All of this background was the reason why the Citizens Tax Reform Group was formed to find a replacement for the MVA system. During the course of developing a solution and running a real-life Pilot Test, further problems within MVA were found as a by-product.

The Pilot has confirmed the well-known belief that waterfront properties are assessed higher than the rest, and has also quantified the high level of this excess. It also showed that this excess increased substantially from 2001 to 2005. A further problem, previously unsuspected, is that properties smaller than 2,000 square feet in area are assessed significantly higher on average than properties over 2,000 square feet, another discrepancy that increased from 2001 to 2005.
It is reported that MPAC costs $158 million a year, plus the cost of tribunals run by the Attorney General, without adding a single dollar to the economy of the province. These costs are paid by the property owners. The fifteen directors of MPAC are all appointed by the Finance Minister.



Achieving Accountability for Oshawa Taxpayers' Rights