The Ontario Assessment Review Board has rejected claims by owners of a residential property in Greater Sudbury that they lived in ‘extreme poverty’ and therefore should be allowed not to pay their property tax bill. Not only did it emerge that the family had a net annual income of more than $23,000 after expenses, but they also had more than $28,000 in cash in a chequing account. In a decision released July 31, the couple applied to the board to have their 2024 property taxes – totalling $6,300 -- cancelled because they were living in extreme poverty. Claimed extreme poverty, sickness The home itself is assessed at $346,000 – which is not the market value, but the number used when assessing property taxes. “Furthermore, the applicant states that he was sick in 2024, and he, therefore, claims that he was also unable to pay taxes because of sickness,” said the written decision from the assessment review board. To qualify to have their property taxes cancelled on the basis of extreme poverty, they had to prove that the family income was 75 per cent below the poverty line. In another case in Sudbury in February 2025, a couple showed that their monthly expenses were $2,300 more than their income, leading the board to agree to cancel their property taxes for 2023. But in this case, the board said the family’s combined monthly income was significantly higher than their expenses. “The assessed persons are receiving employment income, an insurance payment and miscellaneous smaller amounts for total annual income of $169,728 in 2024,” the decision said. “The household expenses not including municipal taxes are $146,580. The annual net income after expenditures is $23,148, not deducting the payment of municipal tax of $6,300.” The couple also had $28,500 in a chequing account. The poverty level would be an income of $37,967 for two adults and two children, the board said, while an extreme poverty level would be 75 per cent of that, or $28,475. “The assessed persons’ income is $141,253 above the extreme poverty income cut-off,” the board said. “There is sufficient income to pay the full $6,300 of municipal taxes.” Read the full decision here.
