The Civic Election Report
Read the latest news for business owners from the Vancouver Civic Election campaign trail:

October 27th Issue (62KB PDF)
November 4th Issue (3.59MB PDF)
November 12th Issue (112KB PDF)

Survey: Vancouver NPA and Vision Vancouver support 1% tax shift

The Vancouver Fair Tax Coalition recently surveyed all city council candidates about their views on civic election issues, including property taxes and the city budget. All 22 candidates from the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association (NPA), Vision Vancouver, and the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) were given an opportunity to respond and share their thoughts.

Business owners should know where candidates stand. We asked candidates eight questions and here are the highlights:

• When asked whether they will retain the 1% tax shift annually, all NPA candidates agreed to keep the shift for the next four years. Vision Vancouver candidates also agreed, however, they only committed to keeping the tax shift for the next three years, the length of their term on city council. COPE candidates answered the question in a written statement, stating they do not favour shifting property taxes from businesses to residents.
• All NPA and Vision candidates agreed that municipal property taxes for businesses in Vancouver are too high. COPE candidates did not answer the question.
• When asked whether they thought municipal property taxes for businesses in Vancouver impede growth and the ability to create employment, Vision Vancouver disagreed with the statement, and COPE chose not to answer the question. Four NPA candidates agreed with the statement, one NPA candidate disagreed, while the remaining six NPA candidates chose not to answer the question.
• The NPA and Vision Vancouver are both in favour of a long-term solution that brings commercial municipal property tax rates in line with regional and national averages. COPE candidates did not answer the question.

You can download the full results of the survey here.