Tax Comparisons with other Municipalities
Vancouver competes with neighbouring municipalities for businesses and employment opportunities. A comparison of Vancouver’s municipal property taxes with other cities shows Vancouver’s disadvantage.
Business to residential tax ratios
Vancouver homeowners enjoy one of the lowest municipal tax rates in the Lower Mainland. Vancouver business property owners, on the other hand, pay the highest.
In Vancouver, the residential municipal tax levy ratio is 2.12, significantly less than surrounding municipalities.
The business property tax ratio is 4.3, well above the Lower Mainland’s average of 3.5.
Municipal tax covers city services such as garbage pick-up and recycling, utilities, policing, fire protection and local improvements.
The following chart shows the non-residential property tax rate ratio of municipalities in the Greater Vancouver Regional District.
Source: Government of British Columbia, Ministry of Community Services
This chart shows tax rate ratios between residential (Class 1) and business (Class 6) property taxpayers in major municipalities in British Columbia.
How Property Tax is Calculated
Like all municipalities in British Columbia, Vancouver has had a market-based assessment and taxation system since the mid-1970s. There are several steps in calculating property taxes:
The BC Assessment Authority (BCAA), an arm’s length Crown corporation, classifies and values every property in Vancouver.
Each year through the Operating Budget process, Vancouver s City Council determines the property tax funding necessary to balance the City s operating budget.
Based on Council policy related to the distribution of the tax levy, a tax rate for each class of property is calculated to generate the required revenue for that year.
Council has an established policy of collecting a fixed share of the total levy from each of seven property classes.
These tax rates are applied to each property’s assessed value, which establishes the property taxes payable by that property in a given year.
Property taxes in BC consist of municipal tax, regional district tax, hospital tax, school tax and other tax.
