NDP responsible for some Winnipeggers’ property tax bill ‘shock,’ Tory finance critic charges

Winnipeggers “are in for a shock” when they open their property tax bills, Progressive Conservative finance critic Lauren Stone warned in the legislature Thursday.

Stone (Midland) shared a letter from Winnipeg city council finance chair Jeff Browaty saying that, of the 240,000 property owners receiving bills this week, about 93,000 will benefit from the introduction of the province’s $1,500 Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit.

However, many more — about 132,000 — are on track to pay more, since the NDP scrapped the previous Tory government’s 50 per cent education property tax rebate, the letter said.

“We know our approach is going to save 80 per cent of Manitobans more money than under the previous government’s approach,” Finance Minister Adrien Sala told Stone during question period.

In 2024, the NDP announced that starting this year, the school tax rebate and education property tax credit would be replaced by the new Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit of up to $1,500 on principal residences.

The new model would provide relief for more households than the rebate and tax credit, effectively eliminating education property taxes for homes with assessed values of approximately $285,000 and below, Premier Wab Kinew said at the time.

“While this minister irresponsibly eliminated the 50 per cent education property tax rebate, Winnipeg families are going to be paying more as a result,” Stone said.

Browaty, the city finance chair, said the numbers he provided to Stone come from the city assessor and include all categories of properties, not just owner-occupied homes. They include commercial and industrial properties that were receiving a 10 per cent credit under the previous PC rebate system and multi-family properties and non-owner-occupied homes that received a 50 per cent rebate.

Switching to the tax credit and getting rid of rebates for commercial properties was expected to save the province $148 million.

Sala said the province is increasing the $1,500 homeowners’ affordability tax credit next year to $1,600 “to save Manitobans more money.”

“That’s just one thing to make life more affordable,” he said, pointing to the permanent 10 per cent fuel tax cut and hydro rate freeze that the NDP government brought in this year.

Stone called the $100 homeowners tax credit increase “window dressing.”

School divisions across Winnipeg are hiking property taxes between 10.4 per cent and 18.4 per cent, and the city is increasing property taxes by 5.95 per cent, Browaty noted in his letter.

It’s difficult for municipalities to communicate the changes to residents, as most people only look at the total tax bill, he wrote.

Stone accused the NDP of “sloppy fiscal planning.”

“As we’ve seen, property values are continuing to increase and Manitobans and Winnipeggers are paying the price,” she said. “It did not account for the general assessment that took place this year or for increasing property values that we continue to see.”

She said there are seniors on fixed incomes who’ve been in their homes for a long time who are seeing their property values and education taxes soar and, now, so will their tax bills.

Stone said the province should revert to the PC system that offered 50 per cent education property tax rebates and move towards eliminating education taxes on properties altogether.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca