In a tight vote of 8-7, Calgary city council chose to maintain the status quo of property tax sharing, leaving it at 52% residential and 48% non-residential..Council was presented with three options: leave the share as it is; increase the residential share to 53% or 54%, while reducing non-residential to 47% or 46% respectively..According to the city, a 1% shift to residential would have added $48 per year to the average home with an assessed value of $555,000. A 2% shift would have added $96 per year..On the non-residential side, a property valued at $5.1 million would have seen a decrease of $1,959 in annual taxes with a 1% shift or a decrease of $3,917 with a 2% shift..Council members who voted against the status quo, looking to increase homeowners’ tax bills, were councillors Carra, Spencer, Mian, Walcott, Penner, Demong and Mayor Gondek..Those in favour were councillors Wong, Sharp, Dhaliwal, Chu, Chabot, McLean, Pootmans and Wyness..Coun. Sharp, said it wasn’t the right time to add more to residential tax bills..“You all see the same thing at the grocery store, on your bills, on your rent or mortgages, or childcare,” Sharp told council. “The cost of everything is going up and that includes property taxes, which we have already increased in November..Coun. McLean voted not to shift.."I'm pretty sure if councillors are looking at their inboxes and talking to residents they're not going to be looking at a tax shift onto residents," he said..The most recent shift to Calgary’s tax share was in 2019, following the impact of a significant reduction in downtown property values on the city’s tax revenue..Gondek told council a further shift in the tax share has been a part of the budget discussions since 2019, and that expert working groups said the proportionality needs to change..“We have been talking about this for four full years,” Gondek said. “It ends up coming down to who’s going to do the right thing and who’s worried about how it looks.”.Council’s decision did not go over well with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce..In a statement, the chamber said it runs counter to Calgary's identity of being “open for business.”."We have been actively working with our business community and city council on the importance of business viability and success in Calgary, knowing a thriving business community leads to a vibrant Calgary community more broadly,” Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said in the statement..“Businesses are the employers of many Calgarians, and we need a strong business environment to continue having a strong economy.".“We view the decision to maintain the status quo as a decision in favour of a further imbalance, as the ratio is projected to continue climbing. It leaves Calgary among the highest-cost cities compared to nearby and other major Canadian cities, hampering business success. Rising costs, inflation and debt continue to impede business, and unequitable property taxes only add to this.".According to the chamber, Calgary businesses paid 3.4 times more tax than residential homeowners in 2021, a number the organization expects to climb to 4.26 in 2023..The chamber’s goal is to reach a tax share of 60% residential and 40% non-residential by 2027..With approximately 14,000 non-residential properties on Calgary, the mayor said those properties make up 26% of the total assessed value in the city and carry 48% of the tax share..She added the 531,000 residential properties account for 74% of the city’s assessed value, while only paying 52% of the tax share.."I think we need to take some action to help small businesses," the mayor said.."I can tell you that the chamber has done some pretty good work in identifying businesses with less than 20 staff, businesses that have been in operation for less than 10 years and businesses that are run by visible minorities are most in jeopardy if we don't take some action."."We know small businesses are employers. We know they're putting back and feeding their families and they're feeling pressures of the cost of living, just as we are as residents, but to a greater extent," said Coun. Penner..It doesn’t mean Calgarians won’t see a tax increase this year..Last fall, council approved a 4.4% tax hike for 2023, which is estimated to add $10 per month for the typical single-family home.
