Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: March 20, 2010 12:00 PM
A North Okanagan politician believes a review of industrial taxes is smoke and mirrors. A joint review of major industrial property assessment and taxation has been established between the provincial government, the Union of B.C. Municipalities and the Business Council of B.C. “It irks me that the province is doing this,” said Will Hansma. “It needs to be demonstrated by the province we aren’t attracting business (because of taxes).” Some businesses have expressed concern about the major industry classification, but Hansma says the review better not lead to less tax revenue for his community. “If they (province) start meddling, they better be prepared to subsidize municipalities,” he said.
The recent government throne speech indicated the need to make property taxes more conducive to investment while assuring municipal services are fairly provided for all taxpayers. “It’s a balancing act to create an attractive investment climate and sustainable local economies while at the same time ensuring that our citizens have access to essential services,” said Bill Bennett, community development minister, in a release. “Ultimately, the goal is to develop livable, economically sustainable and financially competitive communities, and the province is committed to working with UBCM and industry representatives to make this happen.”
According to Hansma, Spallumcheen is below average when it comes to industrial taxes across B.C. “The rates industry get charged are reflective of the kind of business they are,” he said. “If they are having a significant impact on your infrastructure, they should be taxed accordingly. We don’t have the (financial) resources the province does so we have to tax accordingly.”
3 comments:
Ah, good to see Mayor Hansma has put his finger on the most important reason for this review, the fact that municipalities have been charging industry ridiculous tax rates to fill their municipal coffers.
Ever since 1984, when the Province removed the industrial tax rate cap, thereby no longer requiring that industrial tax rates could not exceed more than 3.4 times the residential tax rate, municipalities started gouging industry like it's going out of business!
In Spallumcheen, 2008 tax rates were 3.0154 for Residential, 21.0125 for Major Industry and 9.9509 for Light Industry, and 9.3478 for Business.
Compare that with Vernon's 2.10335, 27.8642, 7.2791 and 6.5047.
Interestingly, Spallumcheen has the highest Residential and Business tax rate of any North Okanagan municipality (must be all them roads, eh?).
I suspect Mayor Hansma is well aware that Spall is not exactly all that competitive when it comes to tax rates, because he is already screaming subsidy.
The only thing that will put an end to this is a province-wide industrial tax rate. Strangely I predict we won't see that initiative gathering any support from our local politicians!
The actual tax rates for 2009 and previous can be found at http://www.cd.gov.bc.ca/lgd/infra/statistics_index.htm
Easthiller has indicated that Vernon has a Major Industry Tax rate of 27.864.
Vernon has no properties classified as Major Industry and derives no taxation in this class.
From time to time I have done a tax ratio posting on various classes and the NORD region and will shortly post one again.
Thanks for the link DQ, those tax rates are more updated than CivicInfo's website.
Surveys & Statistics on CivicInfo allow anyone to obtain a number of interesting comparisons - not only tax rates, and not only for municipalities.
See Surveys & Statistics:
http://civicinfo.bc.ca/81_ver2.asp
Unfortunately the data can be incomplete and as noted, not as current as one would like. Hence only 2008 rates were quoted in my comment.
As CivicInfo explains:
"Local governments are surveyed for current-year information in the month of February, and results are posted to this website in March. As with the MCD Statistics, the accuracy and reliability of survey results depends on the inputs of local governments."
To follow up on DQ's link, 2009 municipal tax rates were:
Spall: Residential 3.0911, Major Industry 22.2559, Light Industry 10.2006, and Business 9.5824.
Vernon: 2.6752, 0 (no properties classed as Major Industrial), 9.0432, and 8.1628.
Spall still has the highest residential and business tax rates in the North Okanagan. This is not something new.
Any comments on province-wide industrial tax rates?
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