Ontario Hansard - 15-December2003

Ms Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Victoria-Brock): The clock's rolling. I'll have to talk quickly.

I rise today to address an issue of tax unfairness which has been brought to my attention by the Ontario Private Campgrounds Association and a number of its members which operate campground facilities in my riding of Haliburton-Victoria-Brock. These hard-working campground operators in my area have been informed by the Municipal Property Assessment Corp, which reports to the Minister of Finance, that under an omitted assessment notice sent out in November, the number of trailers in their campgrounds are now assessable and that their taxes would be going up accordingly. Worse still, the Municipal Property Assessment Corp, in its zeal to collect more taxes, has informed the campground operators that this omitted assessment notice is retroactive to the 2003 tax year.

These hard-working small business owners in my riding and indeed across the province want to know why these assessments are going out now, after the tourism season is over and their books are effectively closed, and more importantly, why this new-found tax is retroactive to last season.

Hard-working campground operators are vital to the tourism sector. They want to know why they are being overtaxed and are being asked to pay retroactively. They are expecting an answer from this government. They will not be ignored.