Toronto Islanders are paying significantly less in property taxes, and city council is pushing to change that

Local residents are responding to a proposal by Don Valley East City Councilor John Burnside that calls for higher property tax rates for Toronto Island residents.

In the application, owning a home on the island is different from the rest of the city because islanders own their homes but rent the land from the city.

“Consequently, property taxes are very low because they are based only on the value of the home, not on the value of the land and home like the rest of Toronto,” the motion said.

Additionally, given the isolated nature of island living, the cost of providing municipal services to its community is roughly three times that of the rest of the city.

However, home ownership on the island is different from the rest of the city, as islanders own their homes but rent the land from the city.

The average Toronto Island homeowner pays about $1,530 in property taxes each year, while the average Flemingdon Park renter pays $4,320 in property taxes each year.

Burnside's call sparked an online response from townspeople, some of whom agreed with him.

“Islanders consume significantly more urban resources than “mainlanders”. Everything is more expensive to get around the island, like ferries, boats, ports, etc. capture and transport of water, electricity, waste, etc. over waterways. additional burden of delivery. They should be paying more property taxes, not less,” wrote one Toronto Redditor.

“It seems like a no-brainer. I do garbage collection, snow removal, etc. I think things like that are a bit expensive. Looks like they should be paying more than the modal owner, not less,” said another Reddit user.

“If these homes were rented at fair market rates and paid their fair share of taxes, there wouldn't be another generation-long waiting list. Instead, we are unfairly subsidizing 262 households,” wrote another.

According to Destination Toronto, approximately 650 people live on the island and their land is leased until December 2092, as specified in the Toronto Islands Amendment Act.

However, because Islanders don't own the land they live on, the current tax rate means they don't pay their fair share compared to other Torontonians.

“In fact, the provision of their municipal services is heavily subsidized by the taxpayers of the rest of Toronto,” Burnside said.

The proposal was tabled on February 6 and will be sent to the Executive Committee for consideration.