Elimination of the One Third Tax Free Federal Allotment

Whereas proposed measures announced during the 2017 Federal Budget would, beginning in 2019, remove the tax exemption for the 13 non-accountable expense allowance paid to members of provincial and territorial legislative assemblies and to certain municipal office holders, including mayors and councillors; And whereas no consultation with elected officials was conducted prior to the announcement and the impact of this change is that the full amount of remuneration will now be subject to income taxes at both the provincial and federal level of government and may be considered a disincentive to the holding of public office; And whereas current remuneration levels for elected officials reflect existing income tax provisions, changes to those provisions are likely to result in changes to remuneration, transferring the cost of this change to property tax payers: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM urge the federal government to reverse this direction and keep the current 13 non-accountable expense allowance.