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Property tax facts

— By Stephanie Lim — According to the news release from the Vancouver Fair Tax Coalition (VFTC) March 20, 2006,…

By Stephanie Lim , in Business , on October 25, 2007

— By Stephanie Lim —

According to the news release from the Vancouver Fair Tax Coalition (VFTC) March 20, 2006, Vancouver is paying the highest municipal property tax rates across the country. This will affect businesses. The VFTC slideshow presentation indicates that if owners can’t raise rent, some may resort to not maintaining or upgrading property. Therefore, “the incentive for tenants to leave the neighbourhoods accelerates”.Money matters

Q. Who is the Vancouver Fair Tax Coalition?

A. The VFTC is a group working with the local Business Improvement Area program for the city of Vancouver, and other business organizations to raise awareness of the imbalance of municipal property taxes paid by Vancouver businesses versus residents.

The VTFC wants to permanently even out taxes so that the regional and national averages are more in line with each other.

VFTC reports that Vancouver businesses pay almost 6 times the tax rate of residents, double neighbouring municipalities, and double the national averages.

Q. What are the 2007 business and residential property tax rates between other big cities in Canada?A. See Taxation.

Q. What are Vancouver’s historical property tax rates per $1000 taxable value?

A. The City of Vancouver Financial Operations define that “the tax rate is the sum of a number of different levies including the General Levy. The General Levy is set by the City of Vancouver to meet it’s revenue requirements. The other levies, such as, School, GVTA, GVRD, MFA and BCA are set by those taxing authorities”.

According to Revenue Services for the City of Vancouver the calculations for residents and businesses are as follows:

{[(Average last 3 years of land assessment) + (Current building assessment)] X (current rate)} ÷ 1000 = (Tax to pay / year)

  • 2007 – Residential (4.94817), Businesses (24.87171)
  • 2006 – Residential (5.63853), Businesses (28.25724)
  • 2005 – Residential (5.98922), Businesses (29.40110)
  • 2004 – Residential (6.33573), Businesses (29.39872)
  • 2003 – Residential (6.61411), Businesses (28.72343)
  • 2002 – Residential (6.62104), Businesses (27.68762)

(Contact the city for a complete list of 2007 property tax rates as they are not posted online)

Exceptions:

  • For new properties, the calculations are based on current land assessment and current building assessment.
  • BC Assessment does all property assessments.

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