The voice of small business in BC is challenging municipal election candidates in Kamloops to support property tax reform to help those struggling with skyrocketing tax bills.
The Vice President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) Richard Truscott says the deeply flawed property tax assessment system is the reason tax bills are ballooning.
“Even though you may be building residential units above that small business that those properties would be considered at the commercial rate there is no ability for municipalities to differentiate between residential and commercial in a mixed use development,” Truscott said. “That’s causing property taxes to be higher for that entire development than they otherwise should be or would be fairly assessed at.”
Truscott says candidates need to focus on ways to take the weight of property taxes off the shoulders of small businesses, and improving how commercial properties are assessed is the first step