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Old Posted Jul 24, 2011, 2:58 AM
racc racc is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prometheus View Post
No? But it's perfectly okay for the city to rely on businesses for 50% of the city's total tax levy even though businesses comprise only 24% of the city's assessment base? In 2010, Vancouver had a commercial to residential property tax ratio of 4.42 to 1, the most inequitable in Canada. Businesses in Vancouver shoulder a tax burden far in excess of all the city services they receive in return, including the provision of street-side parking outside their premises, for which the city often charges users through parking meters anyway. When things are put in their proper context, therefore, it becomes clear that street-side parking is the least that businesses are entitled to. They are footing the bill for it and a lot, lot more.
Many businesses in the region do not have on-street parking for their customers and have to provide, at great expense, off-street parking. They even have to pay property tax on this parking space. Why should a few businesses expect that the city should always provide public space for parking. In a sense, the city is providing these businesses with a subsidy that other businesses do not get. Now that the businesses themselves have provided the city with the value of that space, maybe the city should start charging them for the on-street parking in front of their businesses. Then, if the city decides to use that space for something else, the businesses would not have to pay anymore.
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