Vancouver property taxes out of control
Although the focus in Vancouver recently has mainly been on outrageous housing prices, foreign investment, and lack of affordable options for homebuyers, the unstable market there has also had a serious effect on owners of commercial property as well.
The Globe and Mail spoke to several Vancouver property owners who have been impacted by this phenomenon. While the increased values of their properties is in one sense a positive, property taxes have gone up proportionally, which makes it difficult for them to operate their businesses.
Take, for example, the case of designer and manufacturer Niels Bendsten. He owns office and warehouse space in the downtown district of Railtown. Last year he paid just over $60,000 in property tax for just one of his properties; next year he will pay $147,000. The egregious jump has forced him to consider leaving the city, which he has inhabited and worked in for decades, in search of a more reasonable and business-friendly property situation.
It has not been unusual for smaller businesses to experience greater than a 250% jump in property tax demands in this short period of time. Without intervention, many of them will be unable to survive in the downtown Vancouver area.
A group of representatives for the development industry, including a prominent property tax consultant, various city councillors, and the Urban Development Institute, are approaching the province of British Columbia and asking it to consider rewriting legislation on how small businesses are taxed.
If the provincial government were to do so, it would augment many of the housing regulations that have been introduced in the past year, both at the provincial and national levels.