Those of us who maintain that government has gotten far too big for our own good can take little solace in the Ontario government’s creation of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). MPAC is a not for profit corporation charged with maintaining up to date assessments of all of Ontario’s properties, so that municipalities could levy taxes based on real value. The Harris Government initially created the corporation in 1997 then named the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation, because of the wide disparity in property assessments, particularly those in older urban areas versus newer suburban neighbourhoods. It used to be that homes in places like Toronto’s fashionable Cabbagetown area were assessed at say $12,000 to $16,000, while newer homes of similar size in places like Richmond Hill were assessed at $180,000 to $200,000. Both assessments reflected their value when the houses were first purchased.
