BBOT Talks Property Taxes on CBC and CKNW, Calls for Province to Act

Burnaby Board of Trade President & CEO Paul Holden was interviewed by CBC Radio’s Gloria Macarenko on the “On the Coast” show, and on CKNW’s “The Lynda Steele Show” last week about the problem of soaring property assessments driving unsustainable property tax bills.

This issue “actually strikes at the very existence of small businesses. And let’s not forget, these people are following their dreams in many cases.  They’ve invested not just their financial equity, but their emotional equity and their sweat equity,” says Paul Holden, and they need solutions.

Currently, property taxes at the local level are based in part on BC Assessment’s value of a property, which is set based on a property’s “highest and best use” — that is, what could be built on the site, not what the site is actually being used for.  This leads to some businesses seeing massive increases in property taxes if their lot could be redeveloped to hold greater density.

The Burnaby Board of Trade is fighting for solutions to this problem, and has been for over a year — working with the City on possible local actions, and pushing the provincial government to change how properties are assessed to mitigate the impacts of “highest and best use.”

Are you paying too much in property tax?  We want to hear it!   Your support and your individual examples help us make the case to government.  Contact Cory Redekop at cory@bbot.ca about your tax bill, or any other government policy issue.

Listen to the CKNW interview here: