As the issue of municipal business taxes continues to heat up the civic election race, Edmonton Mayor Bill Smith has weighed in to the debate.
Smith, the incumbent in Edmonton’s mayoral race, said he is generally content with level of business taxation in the city, and he dismisses those who blame taxes for Edmonton’s 14-per-cent office vacancy rate.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business recently published a survey that showed about 70 per cent of its 8,700 Alberta members identify municipal taxes as the number one local factor negatively affecting business.
Mike Nickel, also a candidate for mayor, has been aggressive in suggesting that during Smith’s two terms in office, small businesses have been chased away, or even destroyed by the level of non-residential taxation. Nickel wants to see Edmonton’s business tax gradually phased out. “Edmonton gets $72 million from the tax. So you don’t do it overnight.”
On the opposite side of the issue stands Robert Noce, another mayoralty candidate and experienced city councillor, who says of the business tax: “I think the balance that exists is reasonably fair.”
Smith, too, is not convinced that current levels of non-residential taxation are having a deleterious effect.
“When you compare the cost of the ‘basket’ (not just business taxes, but all government taxes, fees and charges) from one city to another, Edmonton comes out on top,” Smith says.
“We are extremely competitive. But that doesn’t mean Edmonton’s business community is without concern. It understands the operating and capital gaps that are looming. It understands the additional tax burden that could result if these gaps are not closed. Needless to say, this is my priority, too.”
