Taxation of certain railway, power utility lands
368.3(1)Every local municipality shall impose taxes, in accordance with the regulations, on the following land: 1. The roadway or right of way of a railway company, other than the structures, substructures and superstructures, rails, ties, poles and other property on the roadway or right of way, not including land leased by the railway company to another person for rent or other valuable consideration. 2. Land owned by a power utility prescribed by the Minister of Finance (other than a public utility defined in subsection 27 (1) of the Assessment Act) and used as a transmission or distribution corridor, not including land leased by the power utility to another person for rent or other valuable consideration. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Distribution of the tax (2)Part of the taxes imposed by a local municipality on land described in subsection (1) shall be distributed to the upper-tier municipality, if any. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Amount of share (3)The upper-tier municipality’s share of tax under this section shall be determined in accordance with the following:  Where, “Total commercial tax” means the total tax levied on land in the commercial property class and other property classes prescribed for the purposes of this definition, for upper-tier and lower-tier purposes, in the local municipality; “Upper-tier commercial tax” means the Total commercial tax levied for upper-tier purposes. 1997, c. 29, s. 37; 1998, c. 3, s. 19 (1). Regulations (4)The Minister of Finance may make regulations, (a) prescribing, for each geographic area described in subsection (6), the rate of tax to be imposed by a local municipality on land described in subsection (1); (b) prescribing power utilities for the purposes of paragraph 2 of subsection (1); (c) governing when the distribution under subsection (2) shall be made; (d) prescribing property classes for the purposes of the definition of “Total commercial tax” in subsection (3). 1997, c. 29, s. 37; 1998, c. 3, s. 19 (2). Same (5)The following apply to regulations under subsection (4): 1. The regulations may provide for land described in paragraph 1 of subsection (1) to be taxed differently from land described in paragraph 2 of subsection (1). 2. A regulation may be general or specific in its application. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Geographic areas (6)For the purposes of this section, Ontario is divided into the following geographic areas: 1. The City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel and York. 2. The Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and the counties of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, Prescott and Russell, Renfrew, and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, including the separated municipalities situated in those counties. 3. The counties of Frontenac, Haliburton, Hastings, Lennox and Addington, Northumberland, Peterborough, Prince Edward and Victoria, including the separated municipalities situated in those counties. 4. The regional municipalities of Hamilton-Wentworth, Niagara and Waterloo. 5. The Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk, the County of Oxford and the counties of Brant, Elgin, Essex, Kent, Lambton and Middlesex, including the separated municipalities situated in those counties. 6. The counties of Bruce, Dufferin, Grey, Huron, Perth, Simcoe and Wellington, including the separated municipalities situated in these counties. 7. The Regional Municipality of Sudbury and the districts of Algoma, Manitoulin and Sudbury. 8. The District Municipality of Muskoka and the districts of Cochrane, Nipissing, Parry Sound and Timiskaming. 9. The districts of Kenora, Rainy River, and Thunder Bay. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. References to municipalities and districts (7)In the description of a geographic area in subsection (6), a reference to a municipality or district is a reference to the municipality or district as it was on December 31, 1997 except for the reference to the City of Toronto which is a reference to the City of Toronto as it was on January 1, 1998. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Collector’s roll (8)The clerk of a municipality shall, for land described in subsection (1), enter on the collector’s roll the number of acres or other measure showing the extent of the land and the amounts of the taxes under this section. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Amount to be distributed is a debt (9)An amount that a local municipality is required to distribute to an upper-tier municipality is a debt of the local municipality to the upper-tier municipality. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Default (10)If a lower-tier municipality fails to make any payment, or portion of it, to an upper-tier municipality as required under this section, the lower-tier municipality shall pay to the upper-tier municipality interest on the amount in default at the rate of 15 per cent per year, or such lower rate as the upper-tier municipality may by by-law determine, from the date payment is due until it is made. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Interest on advance payments (11)An upper-tier municipality may, by by-law, provide that the upper-tier municipality shall pay interest at a rate to be determined by the council of the upper-tier municipality on any payment under this section, or portion of such a payment, made in advance by a local municipality. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Transitional taxation for “grandparented” owners (12)The Minister of Finance may make regulations providing for the taxation under this section for the taxation years 1998 to 2005, both inclusive, of land that the owner owned on December 31, 1997, for the purposes of providing for the transition from the taxation of such land as it was taxed in 1997. 1997, c. 29, s. 37. Same (13)The following apply to regulations under subsection (12): 1. The regulations may provide for land described in paragraph 1 of subsection (1) to be taxed differently from land described in paragraph 2 of subsection (1). 2. A regulation may be general or specific in its application. 3. The regulations may provide for different taxation of particular parcels of land or of parcels of land owned by particular owners. 4. The regulations are, if they so provide, effective with reference to periods before they are filed. 1997, c. 29, s. 37; 2001, c. 23, s. 158.