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Legislative changes that have been made to the Farm Property Class Tax Rate program will mean less red tape for farmers and less costly, more efficient program delivery from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). In the past under this program, farm owners have registered annually with OMAFRA to be entitled to pay 25 per cent of municipal residential taxes on eligible property.

The changes were made as a result of consultations with farmers and other stakeholders on ways the ministry could improve the program.

In 2000, OMAFRA began sending multi-year applications to all eligible farmland owners. The form contains a declaration allowing the property owner to maintain eligibility for several years, as well as a commitment from the owner to inform OMAFRA if the property is sold or changed in any way. Once the eligibility of the property is established, owners will not have to apply every year. This means farmers won't have to worry about missing deadlines, and missing out on tax savings. At the same time, legislative changes were made to allow municipalities to collect back-taxes if an owner does not report a change that affects the property's eligibility for the Farm Property Class tax rate.

OMAFRA will send applications only to:

Staggered deadline dates:

Instead of having one deadline date for the entire province, the ministry will stagger the dates according to the location of the farm. This change will speed up the process by cutting down on the volume of applications to be processed all at once. It will also improve the ministry's ability to respond to client inquiries.

Fair treatment for the North:

Legislative changes to the Provincial Land Tax Act, Local Roads Board Act and the Local Services Board Act ensure consistent treatment for farm properties in the unorganized townships of Northern Ontario.