Yes, I know, everyone hates paying property tax (let’s be honest, we’re not even sure what we get for that tax money anymore :-)). In an attempt to help you property owners to reduce your tax bills, here are my suggestions for reviewing and potentially decreasing your property taxes in Ottawa 
And Ottawa of all places, should pay attention as we have some the highest property taxes anywhere in Canada.
First you have to determine what valuation the city has given your property. You can find this through MPAC. MPAC is an independent organization that performs property assessments across the province of Ontario. And if you’re wondering if there is any benefit to having a high MPAC assessment, the answer is ‘NO’. Some people ask me if the high assessment will make their property more valuable. Again, no, it won’t. What will make your property more valuable, is lower yearly taxes. At the end of the day, nobody really cares about a fictious projected value. What they care about are the cold, hard numbers of what it costs them to maintain the property.
So, back on track. Once you’ve discovered how MPAC has assessed your property, it may be important to review that assessment (speak to a local realtor if need be, to determine if they’ve ‘over-valued’ your property). If you don’t believe that your property is accurately assessed, you should definitely request a reassessment. By that, I mean if you believe the MPAC assessed amount is higher than what you can sell your property for today, then make sure to get it adjusted. Your assessed value is what determines your yearly property taxes. They will take the assessed value, and multiply by a mill rate or tax rate, to calculate your property tax amount.
As you may be aware, your property tax amount directly affects the value of your property. As I said earlier, the higher your property taxes are, the less desirable the property becomes. I strongly urge owners to fight any ‘over-evaluation’ of their property. I recently watched an owner bring their taxes down from $15,000 per year to $11,000. That makes a huge difference to your property’s value and what it will sell for.
So don’t be shy, fight the tax man and potentially reap the rewards. If you’d like help with this, or have any questions, definitely ask me. I’m always happy to help someone save money!