Exclusive golf clubs are actually going to pay their taxes…soonish

Just in time for pseudo-summer, today’s Toronto Star returns to a strange tax situation involving nine exclusive country clubs and golf courses in the GTA. See, back in the ’50s and ’60s, local municipalities wanted to keep green space out of the hands of developers, so they struck a deal with several private golf clubs: as long as the golf courses stayed golf courses, they could defer 10 to 30 per cent of their tax payments (in other words, “Keep doing what you’re already doing and you’ll get a break on your taxes”). The decades-old agreement has cost the city $37 million in lost tax revenue to date. Eyeing that cash, city council voted in 2010 to renegotiate their deal with the courses, but many of the clubs are still trying to sort out new deals with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. Despite all the hold-ups, we assume the deals won’t contain anything too drastic. Read the entire story [Toronto Star]»