Tribunals Ontario / Tribunaux décisionnels Ontario
Assessment Review Board / Commission de révision de l’évaluation foncière
ISSUE DATE: November 01, 2022
FILE NO.: WR 181897
Assessed Person(s): G.B.
Appellant(s): G.B.
Respondent(s): City of Toronto
Property Location(s): Address Withheld
Municipality(ies): City of Toronto
Roll Number(s): Roll Number Withheld
Appeal Number(s): 3496760
Taxation Year(s): 2021
Hearing Event No.: 773666
Legislative Authority: Section 323(1)(e) of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 11, Sched. A
APPEARANCES:
| Parties | Representative/Counsel* |
|---|---|
| G.B. | Self-represented |
| City of Toronto | Amy Tieu* |
HEARD: September 21, 2022 by telephone conference call
ADJUDICATOR(S): Dan Weagant, Member
DECISION
OVERVIEW
1G.B. (the “Applicant”) filed an application with the City of Toronto (“City”) to have her 2021 property taxes cancelled, reduced or refunded because she was unable to pay, due to either sickness or extreme poverty, under s. 323 (1)(e) of the City of Toronto Act (“Act”).
2The City has passed a by-law, delegating its authority to determine such applications to the Assessment Review Board (“Board”) under s. 323(11) of the Act.
Issues for the Hearing
3At issue in this proceeding is whether the Applicant’s 2021 property taxes should be cancelled, reduced or refunded because of her inability to pay, due to sickness or extreme poverty. This requires the Board to determine:
- if the Applicant was unable to pay her 2021 property taxes;
- if the Board determines she was unable to pay her property taxes, the Board must then determine if the reason she was unable to pay was either sickness or extreme poverty; and
- if the Board determines she was unable to pay due to sickness or extreme poverty, the Board must then decide the amount of the property taxes levied in 2020 to be cancelled, reduced or refunded.
Result
4The Board finds that the Applicant has failed to demonstrate that she was unable to pay the property taxes levied in 2021. The application is dismissed.
ANALYSIS
Issue 1 – Was the Applicant able to pay her property taxes in 2021?
5The Appellant testified that her average monthly income in 2021 was $1,673.07. This was confirmed by the documents filed in advance of the hearing. The income in 2021 was made up of Canada Pension Plan benefits, Old Age Security benefits and Ontario Trillium benefits.
6Average monthly household expenses incurred by the Applicant in 2021 were as follows (rounded to nearest dollar):
- Condominium Fees: $433
- Utilities (electricity, cable, telephone): $138
- Car and home insurance: $243
- Credit Card Interest: $327
- Car operating expenses: $90
- Clothing: $20
- Recreation / Entertainment/ meals outside the home: $220
- Food / Groceries: $600
7Some of these costs are estimates because the Applicant did not account for cash back withdrawals on grocery and other purchases. In that context, the estimated monthly expenses testified to came to approximately $2,071.
8Expenses related to donations to charity and local giving to individuals in the neighbourhood were in addition to the household expenses testified to.
9The Applicant had a total of approximately $37,700 in accumulated debt in 2021, made up of a personal line of credit balance, amounts owing on credit cards and a negative balance at the end of 2021 on a chequing account.
10The City submitted as follows:
- The Applicant had approximately $2,400 in expenses related to discretional spending like meals in restaurant and liquor store purchases and that these expenses cannot have priority over the payment of property taxes;
- The Applicant’s actual income in 2021 was $1,734 per month, based on the documents filed and not $1,673;
- The subject property is mortgage-free and has a value of at least $615,000, consistent with sales of units in the same complex that took place in 2021;
- The Applicant hasn’t sought financial advice with respect to leveraging the value of the subject property to pay expenses, including property taxes; and
- The Applicant had a balance in a savings account of approximately $3,000 at the end of 2021 that could have been used to pay property taxes.
Findings on Issue 1
11The Board must first determine if the Applicant was able to pay her property taxes, based on the evidence available at the hearing.
12In M. M. U. v Toronto (City), 2015 CanLII 46826 (ON ARB) (“M.M.U.”), the Board held that:
In order to qualify under this section of the Act, the Applicant is required to show that every reasonable effort has been made to pay all or part of the taxes. There is an expectation that to qualify for relief under this section of the Act the condition cannot be one where an individual simply cannot make ends meet but amounts to a situation where the Applicant after having called upon every resource available to him and having applied every reasonable means to mitigate and manage his expenditures is left with no means of being able to pay some or all of their property taxes.
13M.M.U. is instructive in this case. It requires an Applicant to make use of the resources available to first address her expenses relating to the necessities of life and to maintain her property. In this case, the Applicant has demonstrated that she was able to draw on her own resources to meet these financial obligations throughout 2021.
14The Applicant has accumulated some debt, but during 2021 she was able to keep up with interest payments on those debts. Evidence adduced by the Parties at the hearing indicates that monthly expenses exceeded monthly income by a margin of approximately $300 per month, before property taxes.
15The monthly shortfall was made up by accessing a savings account balance that began the year at approximately $7,000. At the end of the year this balance stood at approximately $3,000.
16This is strong evidence that the Applicant was able to pay her taxes in 2021 as the bank balance at the end of 2021 exceeded the property taxes levied in 2021 of $2,156.80 after all other living expenses were covered. Citing M.M.U., this is an example where the Applicant has not taken “…every reasonable effort…to pay all or part of the taxes.”
17The Board finds therefore, that the Applicant has failed to demonstrate that she was unable to pay the property taxes levied in 2021. Accordingly, the Board also finds that there is no reason to determine the reason for any inability to pay.
ORDER
18The application is dismissed.
"Dan Weagant"
DAN WEAGANT
MEMBER
Assessment Review Board
Website: www.tribunalsontario.ca/arb