A group of small business leaders argued unsuccessfully Wednesday at Vancouver city hall to have council reduce a portion of the property tax load that businesses will pay this year and shift it to homeowners’ bills.
“We know now that we are dealing with a very different context, not only for residents, but also for businesses in this post-COVID era and the challenges related to that in terms of affordability.” “Just yesterday, a small business owner wrote into CFIB saying we simply cannot get ahead with rising rents, property taxes and poor economic conditions,” Boston told council, before quoting from the letter, which read:
'You ought to be alarmed by this' Paul Sullivan of Ryan LLC, who leads the Business Tax Alliance, a partnership with B.C. business improvement associations, supplied a handout to council that compared property tax rates in municipalities. “In the last 10 years, taxes per residential property increased by $1,369, while taxes per commercial property went up by $11,608 — that is a 750 per cent difference,” Talbot said.