Tax reform on the way for commercial property owners in HRM

According to the report, city staff recommended a tiered option for properties under $2 million, applying to “all small properties in urban/suburban areas.” 

CITYnews halifax \ Stephen Wentzell

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Commercial property owners in the Halifax Regional Municipality will soon become part of a new tax system after the regional council voted in favour of tax reform on Tuesday.

The approval came after reviewing a staff report that proposed three options for reforming tax programs in the HRM.

According to the report, city staff recommended a tiered option for properties under $2 million, applying to “all small properties in urban/suburban areas.”

The tiered tax relief with tax zones system would see larger properties worth more than $5 million in “Industrial” and “Business Park zones” will see increases to their property taxes. The move could also “discourage smaller firms from relocating into larger structures,” as well as “pit one area of the municipality against another.”

Paul MacKinnon, executive director of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, tells CityNews that regional council has done “a great job” but added that the nine business Commissions in the HRM were hoping for a different option.

MacKinnon noted that commercial tax reform in the HRM “has been in the works since at least 2014.” He was one of three representatives from the municipality’s business Commissions.

He said the council “really wanted to see some sort of changes to the tax system that would give some tax relief,” and now they’re doing that by putting “a little bit more of the burden on national chains,” like Walmart and Costco.

While the report noted the tax increase is significant, the system would “treat all Small Properties the same and all Large Properties the same.”