WHEREAS the Local Government Act specifies the statutory process of tax sale for municipalities; AND WHEREAS the requirement for municipalities to offer properties with delinquent taxes for sale to the general public creates unnecessary complexity and risk for municipalities: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM petition the Ministry of Community Services to amend the tax sale process to eliminate the requirement for municipalities to conduct the annual tax sale auction and replace it with a process that approximates the forfeiture process in Section 39 of the Taxation Rural Area Act.
Ministry of Community Services The Ministry surveyed municipal tax collectors in 1998 to obtain information on the effectiveness of tax sale and their comments on the process. The results showed that very few properties typically go to tax sale and that the process is highly successful in bringing in uncollected taxes and averting transfer of title to a third-party purchaser. However, in March 2001, the Ministry issued a Discussion Paper on the tax collection and tax sale process. It presented a number of options for modifying the current system, including adopting a forfeiture model. Responses to the options presented were mixed, with no consensus that forfeiture should replace the current system. The Ministry then examined the possibility of making small changes to the existing process to address some of the perceived shortcomings. Upon further review, the Ministry concluded that these changes would not provide sufficient improvement to the system and might have unintended consequences. No further review of the tax sale process is contemplated at this juncture.