Tourist Accommodation Tax Relief

WHEREAS property assessments for tourist resorts continue to rise, making the viability of operating such businesses very limited; AND WHEREAS in 1996, the Province of British Columbia introduced the Tourist Accommodation Assessment Relief Act to provide an exemption of up to 150,000 of assessed value in order to provide some relief for owners of tourism accommodation; AND WHEREAS the exemption limit has remained unchanged over the fifteen years since the introduction of the Act despite increasing assessments: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the Province of British Columbia to increase the exemption limit in the Tourist Accommodation Assessment Relief Act for Class 6 properties to enable owners of these properties to survive the economic downturn that British Columbia continues to face.