The Nova Scotia government has cancelled plans to impose a property tax surcharge on non-resident home and cottage owners less than two weeks after enacting legislation to do so.

Saskatchewan's commercial ratepayers face an increase in the education portion of their property taxes due to a bump-up in the mill rate, but the spread across tax classes has been tightened.

For residential landlords, the first installment of property tax relief will come with a one-year cap to hold rent increases to no more than 3.8 per cent, retroactive to January 1, 2022.

Manitoba is moving to establish a single entity to deal with property tax assessment appeals, compensation for land expropriation and applications for surface rights.

About 29,000 Toronto businesses will qualify for a 15 per cent reduction in the property tax rate, necessitating a 0.99 per cent increase for the remainder of commercial ratepayers.

Surging values for single-family homes are far outstripping condo gains, but average assessed values for strata residential properties rose anywhere from 7 to 29 per cent across 19 jurisdictions in the lower mainland.

Ontario’s overdue property reassessment is on hold until at least 2024, leaving many commercial ratepayers with a further wait to realize tax reductions from pandemic-related value erosion.

Assessed values in Ottawa and Toronto will be at least seven years out of date and Winnipeg’s will be nearly five years behind before new assessment cycles begin in those cities.

Nova Scotia’s new provincial government is signalling looming surcharges for residential property purchasers and owners who pay their income tax in other jurisdictions.

Economic fallout from COVID-19 is shifting more of the tax burden to this flourishing group of assets via the mill rate, while also driving up the tax rate, for a double-whammy of consequences in jurisdictions that update valuations annually.

About $248 million from the education levy will be returned to property taxpayers this year through 25 per cent rebates to residential/farm ratepayers and 10 per cent rebates to commercial/industrial ratepayers.

A newly announced $7-million provincial fund is expected to partially compensate up to 3,300 small restaurateurs, barkeepers and personal service business operators for paid 2020-21 property taxes.

Alberta’s education mill rate has nudged up 0.1 basis point, adding $0.01 per $1,000 of assessed value to the provincial portion of property tax bills.

Resident British Columbians own about 30 per cent of the properties subject to the speculation and vacancy tax, but account for just 6.6 per cent of collected revenue.

Legislation to enable the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) received parliamentary approval late last week and an online application portal was expected to be operational for Nov. 23.

As announced in the provincial budget, the Ontario government plans to equalize the business education tax (BET) rate at 0.88 per cent for 2021, equating to a $450-million tax cut province-wide.

The commercial property tax rate is at least double the residential rate in eight of the 11 surveyed cities, with commercial ratepayers in Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City shouldering the most disproportionate shares.