Following an infrastructure funding announcement on March 17, Premier David Eby says that all groups involved are now discussing the Ports Property Tax Act.
The comments come after North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice presented a petition against the tax cap on March 8.
Started in September 2022, the Scrap the Tax Cap campaign in Prince Rupert saw nearly 1,800 signatures on a petition to change the legislature that prevents increases to the mill rate that municipalities can charge to certain port properties. Introduced as a temporary five year incentive for port investment in 2004, the cap was then made permanent by the province in 2014.
In the wake of a $600 million infrastructure deficit, Blair Mirau, former city councillor and head of the campaign, says that the grant has not been keeping up.
According to the Scrap the Tax Cap website, since 2004, homeowners have paid 2.2 times more in taxes than capped port properties combined.
Though property tax rates maintained somewhat steady since 2016, only seeing an increase of 1.5 per cent during one year, 2022 saw a 3.6 per cent increase, as reported by the Northern View last May.
On March 17, Eby announced $65 million towards the first phase of the city’s water infrastructure replacement after lobbying from both North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice and Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach.
Following that announcement at the Museum of Northern B.C., Eby talked about being at the table with the city, the Prince Rupert Port Authority and the Longshore Union to discuss sustainable solutions that finance the needs of the city without removing the tax cap.
Listen to the CFNR story featuring Premier David Eby and Blair Mirau below:
