'No one can afford' 100% property tax increase, Yonge Street business owner says

Flipping through a stack of property tax bills from businesses around his neighbourhood, John Anderson says he's worried about the future of YongeStreet as some of them face a100 per cent tax hike.

• Property owner wants his tax bill reassessed by MPAC after 100% hike

Anderson ownsMorningstarTrading, a furniture store betweenIsabellaStreet andGloucesterStreet. He sayshe used to pay $5,600 a month for taxes, maintenance and insurance as a tenant in the building, but that's expected to go up to as much as $9,000 a month.

"I can't afford that," he said. "No one can afford that."

"What will happen up and downYongeStreet isyou will see a lot of businesses closing."

TheYongeStreet Small Business Association, which includes properties between Charles Street andGrosvenorStreet, met Wednesday night to voice their concerns about the tax increase.

"You're going to gut out and you're going to destroy half of the main street in the city of Toronto," Anderson said.

Paul Burford, who ownsthe House Of Lords hair salon, a fixture on YongeStreet for decades, posted his tax bill on FacebookTuesday, saying the increase is forcing him to close his shop in October.

SanjoyKundu, the owner of costume shopTheatrics Plus, is also thinking about calling it quits after nearly 50 years on the block.

"They've assessed my building at a rate that I can't believe," Kundu told CBC Toronto.

He said he paid $20,000 in property taxes last year. This year, he estimates it will be close to $40,000.

"What we've been hearing is a very legitimate concern about the increase in property taxes," saidTristanDowne-Dewdney, a planning adviser toCoun.Kristyn Wong-Tam, who represents Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale.

"There's a number of business owners up and downYongeStreet that have seen increases in the order of 100 per cent or more, and that obviously has major consequences for whatYongeStreet looks like," he said.

"What [the increase] really says is that the only viable use of the land here is for development. And that really is what's at the root of the problem."

Taxation the problem, some say

In Toronto, theproperty tax for a commercial spaceis determined by the building's current assessed value and then multiplied by about 2.5 per cent.

When nearby homes are selling for tens of thousands of dollars over asking, prices for all types of properties in the area go up. So when the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), the not-for-profit corporation that assesses and classifies all properties in Ontario, comes around to rate a property, it bases its value on what buildings sold in the area and for what price.

"We have two and three-story commercial buildings that are getting assessed at the same rates as large condominium buildings,"Downe-Dewdneysaid.

"We have a system that reacts to development but ends up actually promoting it, which I don't think is anybody's intention."

Still, despite the effect these developments have on taxes, Anderson said business owners on YongeStreet are aware of the positive side of things.

"My customers are in these condo buildings," he said. "I have no problem,and most of our merchants have no problem, with condos. Butwe've got to survive as it's being built. The taxation system is broken."

Wong-Tam's office is expected to meet with MPACandthe city's revenue department about the issue in the coming weeks.