WHEREAS the Competition Council has recommended that if municipalities do not reduce taxes on Major Industry then the provincial government should remove the authority of municipal governments to set the relative municipal tax burden amongst the various property assessment classes in their communities, with the intention of shifting the local property tax burden from owners of heavy industry onto owners of residential, small business, commercial and light industrial property; AND WHEREAS the effect of such an initiative on the provision of critical local government services will be negative and large, particularly in resource communities which contribute disproportionately to the wealth of the province; AND WHEREAS such a tax shift will contribute to the infrastructure funding crisis facing municipalities, which is particularly acute in areas across Canada where such initiatives have taken place; AND WHEREAS the authority of municipal councils across BC to set the relative municipal tax burden amongst the various assessment classes is a unique and highly successful feature of community governance and local autonomy in BC; AND WHEREAS municipal councils in BC are better able to appreciate the complex issues unique to each community surrounding the balance amongst local industrial, commercial, light industrial and housing market competitiveness and its relationship to municipal property taxation; AND WHEREAS municipal taxes are a very small cost component of industrial production and the assertion that business competitiveness or the rate of investment is related in any significant way to municipal property taxes is empirically unproven and highly suspect; AND WHEREAS local property taxation is the only public policy vehicle for communities to capture a portion of the industrial wealth created in their communities; AND WHEREAS the vast majority of taxes are appropriated by the two senior levels of government and leave the communities in which they are created: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities strongly endorse the current authority of municipal governments to set the relative municipal property tax burden amongst the assessment classes within their respective communities and oppose initiatives to remove this important feature of municipal governance in British Columbia.
Ministry of Finance The BC Competition Council Council was established to advise the private sector and the government on ways to make our economy more competitive, more productive and more attractive to job-creating investment. The Government of British Columbia Government is continuously reviewing the Province of British Columbias tax rates to ensure they are fair and competitive and is considering Councils recommendations carefully. The Government is reviewing Councils report and does recognize the importance of ensuring the competitiveness of the industrial sector and will review the report and recommendations in that light.