On Friday, May 21, 2021, the Manitoba government announced that over the next week they will begin mailing education property tax rebate cheques to the owners of residential, farm and commercial properties.

Cheques will be automatically issued to about 658,000 eligible properties based on municipal assessment information. The province says they have committed $248 million to the rebate program for 2021.

Home and farm owners can expect a 25 per cent rebate on gross school taxes in 2021 which will increase to a 50 per cent rebate in 2022. Owners of other property will see a 10 per cent rebate this year. Over the next two years the average rebate is estimated to be $1,140 per property.

“We are modernizing Manitoba’s tax structure and this rebate will be paid for entirely by government so it will not affect funding to schools,” said Finance Minister Scott Fielding.

The City of Winnipeg has said that they will be mailing out 2021 property tax statements today. They noted that as a result of the reduction to the Education Property Tax Credit from $700 to $525 for qualifying properties most residential property owners will see a higher amount payable on their statement.

In Winnipeg property taxes are due on June 30, but City Council has approved waiving penalties for unpaid property taxes for three months. Penalties for unpaid property taxes will resume on October 1, 2021.

Manitoba is the only province that still uses school property taxes which are set locally to fund the education system.

The minister noted that the rebate will not impact the amount of school taxes that fund local school divisions.

© News4.ca 2021