Iqaluit breaks tax act, mistakenly publishes names on tax arrears list

The City of Iqaluit is apologizing after it mistakenly published names on its annual tax arrears list, and now potentially faces fines for not complying with Nunavut's tax act.

At the end of November, Cody Prusky started to get messages from across the territory letting him know he owed the city close to $2,000 in back taxes.

The schoolteacher bought his home in October 2015 and lives there with his wife and their two kids. He said he paid taxes in May 2016 and filled out a prepaid Visa form to automate any future payments.

After the city published its tax arrears list in late November, the messages started to come in. Apparently, he owed the city $1,975.22.

"To see your name on a public list that basically defames your character, I mean... makes you look almost like a deadbeat," Prusky said during a lunch break inside his Iqaluit residence in Tundra Valley.

"Frustrated would be an exceedingly nice way to put it."

Wrong tax year

The tax arrears list, an annual list made public by the city, is supposed to be a list of any outstanding taxes of more than $500 as of Dec. 31 of a previous tax year.

It turns out the money Prusky owed was a bill from the current 2016 tax year. 

Prusky says he never received any notice from the city saying he owed them money, contrary to Nunavut's Property Assessment and Taxation Act.

"How are you supposed to know if they don't tell you?" he said.

"There are some names on that list that weren't supposed to be there and that was a mistake by the city. Going forward it won't happen again," said Iqaluit's deputy mayor Romeyn Stevenson.

"The city definitely apologizes for the mistake it made."

Stevenson said the list the city's finance department published was made up of anyone who owed the city more than $500 prior to Nov. 25, 2016.

He admits the city did not send out any written notices to the roughly 125 individuals and companies published on the list letting them know their names would be showing up.

Just how many of those names were on the list in error and how it happened is not clear.

Stevenson points to restructuring within the city's finance department as a possible reason.

"Possibly the department was overwhelmed by some of the changes and some of the big things that happened this year. Especially in our finance department we are in a state of improvement that is significant and it's changing quickly," he said. 

Timelines not followed

Along with not informing people their names would be published, Stevenson says the city also failed to meet the timelines required under the tax act.

The tax arrears list is supposed to be published no later than July 31. The list was not published until the end of November.

The city is also required under the act to post the list in at least five conspicuous locations within the municipality.

A corporation could face up to a $5,000 fine for not complying with the act. The city could also be facing further consequences for its mistake.

Prusky says he wants to reach out to some of the other people on the list and look at his legal options.

"This law has clearly been broken," he said.