Before you invest your family’s life savings in an area home or business, make sure you are aware of the property taxes you will be forced to pay. Property taxes are unavoidable, but you can choose save thousands a year buy raising your family in Listowel instead of Wingham. In fact you can save thousands a year by choosing virtually anywhere over Wingham.
Wingham has what is likely the highest tax rate in Ontario. This is based on a comparison of over 40 municipalities, all of which were randomly selected. Wingham’s tax rate is 2X higher than many areas.
When you buy a home, be aware that your property will be reassessed at the higher purchase price. We have received many reports of people buying property in Wingham and being financially ruined when their property is reassessed, and their property tax bill doubles. This is a detail many real estate agents forget to mention, as it is almost always a deal breaker.
If you pay $389,000 for a home in Wingham, your tax bill will be approximately $8,500/year.
A $389,000 home in Listowel would pay about $4,200 a year in property taxes.
The above example has a Wingham family paying about $4,000 a year more in taxes than a Listowel family. While the elite at town hall don’t believe taxes are that important of an issue when a family decides settle down, WFP vehemently disagrees. Our high tax rate has discouraged countless families from buying in Wingham.
Buying an expensive home in Wingham is like throwing away hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is something most families can’t afford. $4,000/year X 50 years = $200,000.00
Note, the above example does not include the annual tax increases town hall always delivers on. If you added 4% increase every year, it would amount to $635,095.07 over 50 years.