Fiscal Gains from Real Estate Development: The Case of Québec Municipalities

Jean-Philippe Meloche
Additional contact information
Jean-Philippe Meloche: University of Toronto

No 72, IMFG Papers from University of Toronto, Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between real estate development and property taxation in Québec municipalities. Regression analysis shows a fiscal gain associated with municipal growth in Québec. For municipalities with a population of 1,000 or more that registered higher population growth or a higher increase in the number of real estate units from 2008 to 2018, property tax rates either increased by a smaller amount or declined by a larger amount compared with municipalities that had lower levels of growth or that experienced decline. Current spending per capita in these municipalities also increased by a smaller amount over this period. However, a larger share of their revenues came from fees, permits, and development charges, which may have covered part of their current spending. Ultimately, however, this growth-related fiscal gain was temporary. The analysis also shows that municipalities with larger populations had higher per-capita spending, financed by higher property values, which suggests that the property tax is well suited to pay for the costs associated with municipal growth.

Keywords: municipal finances; real estate development; property tax; growth machines; Québec (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H71 R11 R30 R51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2025-10
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published online

Downloads: (external link)
https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/api/core/bits ... iXQwjf8G4PuDlh_0PoPs First version, 2025

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mfg:wpaper:72

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMFG Papers from University of Toronto, Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Enid Slack ().