Vancouver Fair Tax Coalition
Op/ed
May 15, 2007
Kudos to council on a good start, but there’s a long way to go
Vancouver City Council recently voted in favour of holding business property taxes at 2006 levels. In doing so, the mayor and council have recognized the importance of Vancouver having a vibrant business community, which helps to create jobs, enrich neighbourhoods and foster economic growth.
For years now, businesses have tried to convince successive city councils of the growing inequality of property taxes paid by residential and non-residential property owners compared to the amount of city services each consumes.
Over those years, this inequality has continued to grow to the point that Vancouver businesses now pay among the highest property taxes in all of Canada, and significantly more than the neighbouring municipalities with which we compete.
Once this unfair and unsustainable situation was clearly defined by a consumption study commissioned in 1995, council acknowledged the problem but lacked the courage to take the necessary actions.
Instead, they chose to intermittently shift the tax burden, and only by one per cent at a time. As a result, and exacerbated by the growing number of new residential properties and the trend to convert commercial properties to residential, the problem continued to grow.
What does this most recent decision mean to most Vancouver residents?
It does NOT mean an increase of eight per cent on your tax bill.
The TOTAL increase is actually a result of two things: the 2007 city budget increase approved by council, plus the additional residential property tax as a result of the non-residential property tax levy being held at 2006.
Considering that the average assessed value of a residential “occurrence” or property in Vancouver is approximately $750,000, the increase as a direct result of holding non-residential property taxes at last year’s levels is equivalent to $65 per year, or roughly $5 per month.
For the average rental apartment unit, the increase works out to approximately $1.25 per month.
This is a very small price to pay towards maintaining sustainable communities that reflect the unique characteristics of their surrounding neighbourhoods. It is a step in ensuring that we retain the shops and services – and employers – that define such neighbourhoods as Commercial Drive, Robson Street, Kensington, Killarney, the Punjabi Market, Dunbar or West Tenth.
None of us want to pay higher taxes, but it is time we all – business and residential property owners – paid our fair share.
Thanks to the Vancouver mayor and council’s decision, we are finally on the road to achieving this simple goal.
However, we still have a long way to go. Despite this most recent decision, Vancouver still has one of the highest tax ratios of any city in Canada.
Vancouver City Council must now begin creating a long-term policy for the fair and equitable distribution of property taxes based upon the benefits received by each class.
Ed Des Roches and Bob Laurie co-chair the Vancouver Fair Tax Coalition. |
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