Bill 19 explained in plain English
Taxpayer Protection Amendment Act, 2013
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 19 amends the Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999, to require referendums for proposed changes to the Act itself or its repeal, and removes an exemption for municipalities.
This bill, the Taxpayer Protection Amendment Act, 2013, makes changes to the Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999. It extends the requirement for a referendum (a public vote) to situations where the government proposes to amend the Taxpayer Protection Act itself, or to repeal it. Currently, referendums are required for bills that increase taxes or give new taxing authority. This bill also removes an exemption that allowed municipalities to be exempted from referendum requirements when given authority to levy new taxes. It also clarifies that a referendum is not required for amendments or repeals if certain conditions are met, such as the amendment or repeal being described in a statement to the Chief Electoral Officer and the party responsible forming the government after an election.
- Amends the Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999.
- Extends the requirement for a referendum to bills that propose to amend the Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999, or repeal it.
- Removes an existing exemption from referendum requirements for bills that grant municipalities the authority to levy a new tax.
- Specifies conditions under which a referendum is not required for amendments to or repeal of the Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999.
- Members of the Executive Council (Ministers)
- The Legislative Assembly of Ontario
- Municipalities
- The public (through potential referendums)
- The Chief Electoral Officer
- Members of the Executive Council are restricted from introducing bills that amend the Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999, or repeal it, without a prior referendum that authorizes the change (Section 2(11), Section 3(4), Section 3(5)).
- A referendum is required for bills that grant authority to tax, other than to the Crown or a member of the Executive Council (Section 4(1)(c)).
- A referendum is not required for amendments or repeal if the amendment or repeal was described in a statement to the Chief Electoral Officer, the statement complies with requirements, and the party whose leader gave the statement forms the government after an election (Section 4(3)).
- This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The bill may indirectly affect financial outcomes by potentially requiring referendums before changes to tax laws or the Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999 itself can be made.
- The bill does not specify the exact timing or process for holding referendums, beyond stating they must occur before a bill is introduced.
- The conditions under which a referendum is not required for amendments or repeal (Section 4(3)) rely on the opinions and compliance assessments of the Chief Electoral Officer, and the electoral outcome of a subsequent election, which introduces uncertainty.
- The definition of 'designated tax statutes' is not provided within this bill text, but is referenced as being part of the existing Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999.
The bill amends this Act to extend the requirement for a referendum to proposed amendments or repeal of the Act itself. It also removes an exemption for municipalities regarding new tax authority and clarifies conditions where a referendum may not be required.
Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4
This section is removed from the Act.
Source: Section 3
This subsection is changed to include "or the proposed repeal of this Act" when referring to proposals that do not require a referendum.
Source: Section 4(2)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced