Quotes from Members' Letters to their MPPs

My property has been in the family for 73 years and I don't want to have to borrow money, or sell the property, to pay the taxes. In the past several years our taxes have gone up many times faster than my income has increased. I might add that we receive very few services from the municipality in which my cottage is located.

The last market value assessment saw a 50%+ increase and the market value assessment prior to that saw a 44% increase. Our property has not changed one whit! We cannot afford to do anything to 'improve' our home. We are NOT wealthy Torontonians, we are pensioners just trying to live out our lives.

The Ontario provincial government does not seem to give any consideration to the real facts of the situation of many ordinary seasonal property owners such as my wife and I. We own a small old "wee" cottage which we have enjoyed for many years. We have been retired for over twenty years. .... Our principal dwelling in Toronto, where we have full services year round, has lower taxes than our small basic seasonal cottage in Muskoka. We are being victimized in Muskoka. Why has nothing been done?????

My taxes here in Bayfield are now higher than they ever were on my houses in Central Toronto when I was living there. That is totally wrong.

Our family has owned and enjoyed this property for 30 years but as a senior and a widow the financial drain of taxes here is becoming prohibitive.

My wife and I have owned our waterfront property for almost 40 years. Now retired, we hope to continue our enjoyment of the cottage and eventually leaved it to our children. But I fear these hopes will not come to pass. The reason - our taxes have increased so much because of reassessment that there just won't be enough income to pay them. This is so unfair.

I am a retiree and one of many of the middle-income owners of waterfront property in Ontario which was purchased for family use some 30 years ago. ... I believe it is unfair to have to sell the property to pay the realty taxes thereby depriving grandchildren of the cottage. In the past several years, realty taxes have increased many times faster and my retirement income has not increased.

Our summer home has been in our family for 60 years. Being forced, now, to sell because of an unfair demand for more taxes by the present Ontario government is disgraceful and shameful.

As my family has owned this property for 55 years and I am now a widow .... The cottage is so important to me and it would be devastating to have to sell it due to increased taxes.

I am a parish priest, nearing retirement. I will have a small church pension which I retire. My wife ... is a retired teacher. Because she stayed home for many years to care for our two daughters, her pension is a small one. Because our cottage is so old... it requires a lot of upkeep. ... If I did not have a brother to share the expenses, there is no question that I would have to sell the cottage. And that would be very painful. I hope much needed changes in property tax assessment, especially affecting cottage owners, will soon take place. A fairer system will enable us to keep the cottage in our family.

I am 72 years old on a fixed income and am being faced with the prospect of having to sell the cottage I built over forty years ago because I cannot afford the property taxes.

It is heartbreaking to sit at Association meetings and hear stories of how cottage owners are trying to think of ways to pay for the ever-increasing property taxes on their waterfront properties - some are forced to rent their cottages, and some may be forced to sell (particularly seniors on fixed incomes). I am looking forward to spending more time at the cottage during my retirement years, but doubt that I will be able to do so because I won't be able to afford the taxes.

Yes, you could say: "Well, Mrs. C., you could get a pretty penny for your property!" We do not wish to part with our cottage. It is over 100 years old and holds a lot of history and fond memories for the C. family. I have had to replace old pipes, ceilings, floors, etc. but not with marble!

My property is on an island and therefore we receive no garbage pick-up or road service. I consider my cottage a family heritage to be passed onto future generations. I do not consider it an investment.

How would you feel if your most prized possession were taken from you because you could not afford to maintain it? I have worked hard and paid taxes for most of my life. Not as I near retirement, I feel as if the governments are stealing from me.