Province introduces interim property tax relief for small businesses

The province announced new legislation for local governments to provide immediate property tax relief to small businesses, non-profits and arts and culture organizations.

The province has introduced a new interim program to allow local governments to provide property tax relief to small business and non-profits in the 2020 tax year.

The measure is mean to help businesses, non-profits, and arts and culture venues which are struggling with high leases due to skyrocketing property values, said Selina Robinson, minister of municipal affairs and housing. 

“We are committed to making life more affordable for British Columbians — not just for a few at the top,” Robinson said.

The program will allow municipalities to enact their own individual bylaw to exempt a portion of the property tax for affected businesses, within a set of parameters decided by the municipality.

These include:

• Which year (after 2015) shall be considered the “base year” to compare current assessments to.
• What minimum percentage increase in commercial land value a property must undergo to be eligible — e.g. eligible properties must have increased by 50 per cent since the comparison tax year.
• What minimum percentage of the total property value must be land value — e.g. properties where at least 80 per cent of the assessed value is for the land. 

The municipality can also set how much of a tax exemption qualifying properties can receive. 

Robinson noted this is is only an interim measure, meant to cause temporary relief given the “urgency” of the problem.

“We wanted to make sure that there was something that would be available now for all of us to do,” she said, adding the government is working on a more permanent fix. 

“We are already working with local governments and key stakeholders to make sure that our permanent fix will work for communities of all sizes across the province and what we learn from this experience of implementing this interim solution will continue to help us develop that permanent solution,” Robinson said. 

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Vancouver City Councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung said while she appreciated the fact the province had taken a step to address this “significant issue,” the program has some challenges.

“It's a tool that's not going to yield the results and it's probably less likely to be used,” she said. “It's not going to be feasible because it's not going to deliver the benefits that we anticipated and that we want.”

Kirby-Yung said Vancouver and other municipalities asked for a split tax assessment to create a new commercial subclass which would allow properties to be taxed on their existing use in an equitable fashion across the board.

She said she hoped the permanent solution would be expedited in order to provide meaningful relief to struggling businesses.

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