Yachters fight stern tax hike

9:51 PM Sun 25 Apr 2010 GMT

'Members of the Mimico Cruising Club prepare their boats to be put in the water this weekend in Toronto' Kevin van Paassen

With Lake Ontario water levels at a 10-year low and yacht-club property-tax assessments hitting record highs, many Toronto boat owners are wondering how they'll keep from running aground this spring.

Facing average tax-roll increases of 600 per cent, members of Toronto's 18 private yacht clubs are saying that the landlubbers at the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation are as shifty as an east wind bouncing off the Scarborough Bluffs.

Though some envision crews of tax-shy skippers wiping their self-pitying tears with silk ascots, most sailors would refute that stereotype: Not all clubs are created equal. Like any other kinds of sportsmen, some have fewer resources than others.

Club members claim that when the MPAC issued new four-year property assessments in 2008, it scheduled tax burdens to rise by an average of 600 per cent by 2012. The statistic is based on the re-sale value of commercial land adjacent to the clubs. While MPAC later offered to cut the increase in half, the majority of clubs appealed both assessments and are now reefing in for an expensive, prolonged process during which time they will be taxed at the full amount.

Full story on the Globe and Mail www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/yachters-fight-stern-tax-hike/article1545160/

by Ian Merringer

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Yachters fight stern tax hike

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