Commercial Taxation:
Hi. My name is Sam Austin and I want to be your next counsellor for Dartmouth Centre.
HRM’s commercial property tax system favours the suburbs and puts Downtown
Dartmouth and Downtown Halifax at a disadvantage. To bring about an Urban
Renaissance, this needs to change.
It’s important for business to pay its fair share to make our city run, but HRM’s
commercial tax rate is one of the highest in the country. It's higher than all of the other
major national centres and, unlike residential properties, there’s no cap. Commercial
taxes have no relation to how profitable a business is, how much space it occupies or the
cost of providing services. The current tax system is essentially arbitrary, and definitely
unfair.
Since property values are highest in the Centre, Downtown businesses pay more than
their suburban competitors. This is driving growth out of Downtown Dartmouth and
Downtown Halifax. Business has little reason to set up Downtown when taxes are lower,
parking is free and infrastructure is subsidized in the burbs.
Recent statistics are really worrisome. Only 4% of all new office space built over the last
four years is located in the Downtowns. The hollowing out of our urban centre hurts the
entire city because it makes HRM less competitive, less vibrant, less economically
successful and more costly to operate. And, yet, our tax system is actually encouraging it!
The worst part is, it’s not Walmart that is paying HRM’s high taxes. Our own small
businesses are concentrated Downtown and they are carrying the burden.
And yet these entrepreneurs are the people who are really invested in our community.
These are the people who keep a greater share of their profits here. These are the people
who are tied to this place for more than just financial reasons. These are our neighbours.
And who knows, given the chance, one of them could be the next big Maritime success
story. Just look at Sobeys. They started with a single grocery store in Stellarton, and from
that humble beginning they’ve grown into a national chain, which returns huge benefits
to their hometown.
The need for commercial tax reform is clear. As your councillor, I will fight for a system
that doesn’t disadvantage our urban areas and I will not give up until we see change.
There are alternatives. We could bring in differential rates to offset high Downtown land
values. We could scrap property taxes altogether and bring back the business occupancy
tax. We could tax based on the services received. We could even coordinate with the
provincial and federal governments to get a share of corporate tax revenue. And there are
probably other alternatives and variations too. What we need to do is seriously consider
how we distribute the financial costs and burdens of running HRM and how that relates
to the kind of city we want to build. The tax system status-quo is broken and needs to be
reformed if we’re going to bring about an Urban Renaissance in HRM.
Thanks for listening and make sure to vote. Sam Austin, Dartmouth Centre.