Downtown tax break on the way?
Posted Nov 12, 2013 11:55:19 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A break may be on the way for business owners operating in urban cores in Nova Scotia.
The Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities has forwarded the province a motion from its recent meeting in Halifax, asking for a change to Nova Scotia tax rules.
Right now all businesses are taxed at the same corporate rate, which according to Paul Mackinnon, the Executive Director of The Downtown Halifax Business Commission, creates an un-even playing field.
“The entire tax system is based on the property assessments,” said Mackinnon. “Simply because of the style of construction and the price of land there is a huge difference in assessments between downtown and a big box park.”
“Perhaps that gives an unfair advantage leaning away from the downtown,” said Mackinnon.
The proposal would allow municipalities to charge a lower corporate rate to business owners downtown, which Mackinnon says would make the system more balanced.
Under the plan, each municipality would have the option to offer the lower rates to businesses in its urban core if it makes sense to do so.
