Damaging Property Tax

Property taxes have long been a bone of contention for owners of residential property, who today are facing tough economic times.  Add to that the ever-increasing fees for base rates and water consumption and something needs to be done.

But government is averse to letting the largest contributors to their revenue--domestic customers--off the hook.  Government states that residential properties are the largest users of government services.  That may well be the case.

Government must however listen when two of the largest businesses--one industrial which provides much of the area's employment, one agricultural--cry foul of the gouging that is now commonplace.


From the recent District of Coldstream's council meeting:

"Coldstream Ranch has requested several times since 2012 that Council review its current tax multiplier and give consideration to reducing the rate.  At each time, Council reviewed the request and determined that the current tax rate multiplier would remain at a rate of 4.5:1.

Subsequent to these requests, at the March 9, 2015 Council, Mr. Keith Balcaen from the Coldstream Ranch came as a delegation to Council and expressed his disappointment and dissatisfaction with respect to the tax multiplier for farm property in the District of Coldstream.  He indicated that farm operations in neighbouring jurisdictions enjoyed a much lower tax multiplier and that if his business was located almost anywhere else, he would save as much as 12% in taxes.  He suggested that if Council was serious about encouraging agriculture in the District that they should make it less onerous, financially, for agricultural producers.  He further stated that the tax multiplier was unfair and punitive to agricultural producers and that he expected Council to reconsider the issue."

Several years ago, Tolko Industries requested that their tax multiplier be revised as well.

"Coldstream Council's Tax Policies:

• where possible, supplement revenues from user fees and charges to help offset the tax burden of the property tax base.
• the class 2 rate will be set at the maximum rate as permitted under current legislation.
• the District will seek to reduce the class 4 tax rate by 2.5% per year.
• the class 5 rate will be calculated as a multiplier of the residential rate.  The District will seek to maintain this multiplier at a rate of 2.95 to 1.
• the class 6 rate will be calculated as a multiplier of the residential rate.  The District will seek to maintain this multiplier at a rate of 2.4 to 1.
• the class 8 rate will be calculated as a multiplier of the residential rate.  The District will seek to maintain this multiplier at a rate of 1.0 to 1.
• the class 9 rate will be calculated as a multiplier of the residential rate.  The District will seek to maintain this multiplier at a rate of 4.5 to 1."

“Distribution of Property Taxes:

The distribution of the property tax revenue across the different property classes is as follows:

C1	Residential	90.37%
C2	Utilities	0.99%
C4	Major Industry	3.59%
C5	Light Industry	1.24%
C6	Business/Other	1.86%
C8	Rec/Non-profit	0.20%
C9	Farm	1.75%
		100.0%

  
"Objective:

• Over the next several years, reduce the share of property tax paid by Major Industry.
• In the longer term, ensure that the light industry and major industry rates are aligned with other competitive municipalities.

 

"Government would never think to decrease their budget requirements," intones Kia, "no, they'd never think of easing the burden on business and residential payers."

But that's the only way it'll work.

In the interim, major industry's contribution will decrease by 2.5 per cent per year.