TAX NEWS - June 2010

BC Tax: Small businesses have greatest tax burden in Smithers

Smithers businesses rank lowest when it comes to how much businesses pay in taxes among other communities in the regional district.

Smithers, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), has the largest gap between residential and businesses taxes.

The CFIB released their report last week.

Smithers, using rankings where one is the worst and 160 is the best, placed 28.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) report took a property value of $192,149 and using that compared residential to business taxes.

A resident would pay $2,005 in taxes, while a business would be charged $5,707.

That is 2.85 times the amount a resident would pay in taxes.

That gap has grown from 2003 when the gap was 2.58 times.

The report used numbers from the B.C. Ministry of Community and Rural Development and used data from 2009.

According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), a business should be asked to pay no more than double what a resident pays on the same valued properties.

Municipalities can work towards this by freezing business property taxes. The report continues that if municipalities will not voluntarily take action the province has a responsibility to step in and cap the gap.

The Interior News has yet to be able to reach a representative from the CFIB for comment on the report.

The gap, what the report refers to as the small business burden, has grown for all communities within the regional district.

Telkwa has gone from a gap of 1.95 times the residential rate in 2003 to 2.24 in 2009.

Houston has climbed and ranked 74 out of 160, a total gap of 2.6.