Calgary City Council looking at shifting the tax burden
Posted Apr 1, 2019 7:21 am.
Last Updated Apr 2, 2019 1:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – You may have to pay more in municipal taxes if a plan is passed at City Hall.
The conversation will consist of shifting the tax burden away from businesses in the downtown core along with cutting $100 million from the city’s budget.
It’s because of the split between residential and business taxes and the exodus of companies from the downtown core.
Right now, businesses make up a large percentage of the city’s tax roll and with many companies leaving the core, it’s resulting in shortfalls for the city.
Ward 3 Councillor Gian-Carlo Carra called this an unprecedented situation.
“We have got about 5,000 businesses that are facing an unacceptably high raise in their taxes. So the conversation is ‘what do we do?'”
He expects the average house in Calgary to see a rise of about $500 per year.
“There’s a lot of members of council that are like ‘we can’t even begin to do that’. At the same time, we recognize we can’t put that responsibility solely onto the backs of businesses.”
Ward 11 Councillor Jeromy Farkas doesn’t believe there’s much public support for this.
“After years and years of massive tax increases, we have to be able to demonstrate at City Hall that we are doing more with, not just the same, but more with less. Unless there is that belt-tightening I don’t think there is going to be a lot of public support for moving that burden rather than just reducing it.”
He pointed out that businesses and families across the city have had to tighten their belts for the last few years.
“It’s hard for City Hall or City Council to go to Calgarians and say ‘you know what, you have to pay more’ without City Hall ourselves demonstrating that we are willing to do more with less.”
With files from City News
