Why I strongly dislike property taxes: a personal reflection from someone who does not own property

I am nowhere close to owning property, but I’m already repulsed at the thought of paying property taxes. I very much detest the idea of paying a mortgage, gas, electricity, and hydro — and then receiving a bill from the City of Mississauga or wherever I can actually afford to buy a house in the distant future (probably nowhere in the GTHA, let’s be honest) of $4,000+.

I grew up in south Mississauga before it became the super trendy tourist destination it is today. Before the Port Credit BIA and Lakeview Ratepayer’s Association started fighting over boundaries, businesses, and over-crowded housing developments. My elementary school had a wonderful view of the Lakeview Generating Station and my family owns a small business on the intersection of Lakeshore Road East and Cawthra Road.

When the Ford dealership on Dixie Road shut down, my middle school teacher was concerned. He, like most people in the community, thought we’d work blue collar jobs immediately out of high school while continuing to live in our current neighbourhood — like the generations before us.

But he as was wrong.

Slowly but consistently, I noticed a number of my neighbours being pushed out of their homes. Like most, they purchased their homes in 1975 for $60,000 or the early 2000s for under $200,000 (and so on). Since Lakeview and Port Credit were industrialized, working-class neighbourhoods up until the early 2000s, these residents did not anticipate, nor where they prepared, to pay over $6,000 in property taxes each year. Most of them moved to “less desirable” neighbourhoods or small-town Ontario where property taxes were low, while the community they grew up in filled with wealthier residents who could afford to pay high property taxes.

Residents who were not forced to relocate did not appreciate the outcome of their hefty property taxes.

In 2016, I sat in on the Lakeview Ratepayers’ Association’s Annual General Meeting, where a number of attendees expressed their disproval for paying significantly higher property taxes than residents in other Mississauga neighbourhoods, only to see the majority of revenue collected through property taxes allocated towards developing other parts of Mississauga.

This neighbourhood divide led to my favourite unnecessary pandemic catchphrase: “look at all these people walking in our parks that should be quarantining in their neighbourhood”.

Excuse me, but my parents pay thousands of dollars in property taxes each year, so I’m just as entitled as you to walk around this city-owned space. Or, am I — since I am not a property owner?

In addition to questioning whether cities should re-think how they collect revenue from residents, we should ask why we should have to pay more to live in clean, walkable communities.