The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) today released its annual comparison of property tax gaps between Saskatchewan municipalities.
CFIB calls the overall results for 2013 mixed, with quite a bit of variance across the province. On average, commercial property owners paid 2.31 times the municipal property taxes of residential property owners.
CFIB’s research report, Wanted: Property Tax Fairness in Saskatchewan, examines municipal and total property tax gaps for 69 municipalities with a population of 1,000 or more. For the first time, this report also includes 32 Rural Municipalities (RMs) with a population of 1,000 or more. The gap measures the ratio of commercial and residential property tax bills for properties assessed at $200,000.
Estevan’s property tax gap ranks 13th out of 15, with a difference of 2.82 between the commercial and residential tax rate. In 2010 it was 2.27, and in both 2011 and 2012 it was 2.24. The gap has widened, but what does that mean?
Read more in next week’s Estevan Mercury to see if Estevan’s property tax rate really is one of the least “fair.”
“We are concerned business owners are paying more than their fair share and continue to get the short end of the property tax stick,” said Marilyn Braun-Pollon, CFIB’s Vice-President, Prairie and Agri-business, in a press release about the province-wide property tax climate.
Saskatchewan commercial property owners paid $1.14 to $5.14 for every dollar in municipal property taxes paid by homeowners. In Saskatchewan’s 15 cities, it ranged from $1.48 to $4.23, with an average of $2.48.
According to CFIB, Prince Albert had the most unfair tax system with a municipal property tax gap of 4.23 and the highest commercial property tax bill of $6,583 per $200,000 of assessed value.
Martensville boasted the lowest municipal property tax gap of 1.48 (fourth year in a row)
Saskatoon had the lowest commercial municipal property tax bill of $1,598
“If you factor in the provincial education property taxes, commercial property owners in Saskatchewan Cities are paying on average 2.44 times the property taxes of residential property owners. What makes these unfair tax rates worse is that in addition to paying more, business owners typically receive fewer services,” said the CFIB release
“This report should be required reading for municipal leaders as they determine their 2015 operating budgets in the coming weeks and months. With Cities receiving a 155 per cent increase in municipal revenue sharing from 2007-2008 to 2014-15, property tax hikes should be unnecessary,” added Braun-Pollon. “We worry many municipalities may hike property taxes in 2015 to fund unsustainable spending, which will further erode education property tax savings delivered in recent years.”
