The tax man marches on... (en francais)

Coming from an area that is starting to rival the Niagara region for it's wineries, this decision is devastating. The local wineries are a large part of the regional economy from both a jobs and tourism perspective. It's bad enough having to fight Mother Nature, as most agricultural operations do, but to square off with the McGinty Liberals - good luck.

These are just some of the wineries in the Essex County region - Pelee Island Winery, D'Angelo Estate Winery, Colio Estate Wines, Sanson Estate Winery, Viewpointe Estate Winery, Erie Shore Vineyards, Wagner Estate Winery, Smith & Wilson Estate Wines, Aleksander Estate Winery and Muscedere Vineyards.

Industrial assessment - that's just ridiculous. Nothing more than a tax grab for cash starved municipalities. By reversing the tribunal ruling McGinty has delivered more money to the municipalities without having to actually give any money from the province. A win/win as far as he's concerned - until the wineries start going out of business.

They fought the law...
The wineries of Niagara thought they had won a battle to keep their taxes down, JOHN ALLEMANG writes, until the province changed the rules of the game


By JOHN ALLEMANG

Saturday, October 29, 2005 Page M2

Are estate wineries farms or industries? The Ontario government doesn't seem to know.

In June, the province's Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Tribunal ruled that the winemaking area of the tiny but prestigious Thirteenth Street Winery near Jordan Station should be considered a farm building for tax purposes. The decision overturned the long-standing policy of assessing winery buildings at the much higher industrial rate -- despite the fact that the Assessment Act granted farm status to any building "used to manufacture wine from grapes grown on the farm lands the building is located on."

Now, in a sudden decision that has left Niagara winemakers reeling, Ontario's Finance Ministry has overruled the tribunal charged with protecting the province's agricultural resources, and rewritten the disputed regulation to make the bucolic wineries industrial again.

"Frankly, it's abhorrent," says Norm Beale, the owner of Peninsula Ridge Winery and chairman of the Wine Council of Ontario. "The province changed the regulation during the parliamentary recess and behind closed doors, with no consultation or debate. I'm amazed they think they can get away with it -- this is the behaviour you'd expect of a Third World country."