Comparing Taxation Revenues


 

Figure 9; 2018 Comparison of Municipal Taxes in Ontario - BMA 2018 Municipal Study

How Owen Sound Taxes Compare with other Ontario Municipalities
One unintended impact of the abnormally high growth in the cost of delivering city services is that Owen Sound taxpayers are one of the highest taxed populations in Ontario as shown in figure 9. This graph uses data from the BMA 2018 Municipal Study which included 108 municipalities in Ontario.  Of these Owen Sound ranks as 103 – pretty much leading the pack when it comes to high taxes. There are only five municipalities that are taxed higher. Four of them are in the far north Timmins, Espanola, Elliot Lake and Greenstone. These northern communities have unique challenges that Owen Sound doesn’t face.  

So what does this mean for taxpayers? Well, if you were able to pick up your house or business and move it east of 28th Ave to the Town of Meaford, you would get a 22% tax rebate. Taxes in Meaford are only 78.4% of what they are in Owen Sound.  For example if your property taxes are $5,000 per year in Owen Sound you only pay $3,920 in Meaford, so you would have an extra $1,080 to spend on something other than taxes each year. Savings are even better if you were to move your house to Saugeen Shores where taxes are only 61.1% of those in Owen Sound. Therefore you would get a savings of about $2,000 a year if you lived in Saugeen Shores