TAX NEWS - June 2010

B.C. Tax: Revelstoke's business property tax gap second worst in B.C.

Small business lobby group the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has released a report claiming Revelstoke has the second highest property tax gap in B.C. between business properties and residential properties.

The report released on June 15 says according to stats provided by the BC Ministry of Community and Rural Development, Revelstoke small businesses pay 6.65 times more taxes than for a residential property of the same value.

The ratio is more than double the provincial average of 2.94 to 1. The ratio has been growing wider since the early 1990s, when it was 1.8 to 1.

Revelstoke was edged out of the top spot by North Saanich, which sports a ratio of 6.8 to 1.

The CFIB used the report to call for reforms to municipal taxation in B.C., calling for a cap on the ratio between business and residential property taxes and other measures.

The CFIB calls for provincial intervention in the situation. "Municipal governments across B.C. are unfairly taxing small business with grim consequences for local jobs and business growth," they write in the report. "If municipalities cannot charge reasonable property taxes on all properties, the province should cap the property tax gap to ensure that a municipality cannot charge a business property more than double the taxes they charge a residential property of same value."

See the June 23 print edition of the Revelstoke Times Review for local reaction on this developing story.