Local tax hikes are hurting this year. A compilation of The newspaper shows that among the 50 largest cities in Quebec, Saint-Lin-Laurentides has the highest increase in the bill for an average resident, at 20%. In Mirabel the increase is almost 12% and in Saint-Jérôme almost 10%. Major cities like Montreal (4.1%), Quebec (2.44%), Laval (4.8%) and Gatineau (3.16%) managed to keep the average increase more modest. For comparison, inflation in Quebec was about 6.7% last year.
NOT TO BE CONFUSED
CHANGE IN TAX RATE
The tax rate, often expressed as $per $100 of your building’s municipal tax, is used to calculate your municipal tax bill. In most cities, that rate has fallen this year, but that’s to compensate for the fact that the value of buildings has risen significantly. In the end, the bill sent to the owners is still an increase compared to last year.
No offense to some mayors, so comparing tax rates from year to year isn’t a very good way of telling what taxpayers can expect.
CHANGE IN TAX ACCOUNT
This is the number we use in this table. It simply represents the average change in municipal tax bill that you will receive this year compared to last year. In the vast majority of Quebec municipalities, the average tax burden for 2023 is increasing.
What is the average increase in the property tax burden in your municipality?
The Journal compiled data in 230 of Quebec’s largest cities. If your municipality does not appear, this means that we do not have the information yet.
METHODOLOGY
The Journal compiled the average tax bill increase for homeowners.
The data comes from annual budgets, press releases and responses from the municipalities, which have been reviewed by our team.
In rare exceptional cases, the variation may deviate from the one shown here. For example, some municipalities charge additional taxes for services such as garbage collection and the aqueduct. Others charge different increases depending on the industry.