But when we talk taxes, less attention has been paid to the great deal that B.C. property taxpayers – particularly businesses –  are getting at the municipal level.

“Great deal?”. That certainly isn’t the message in the steady drum beat from mill owners like Catalyst Paper or  business lobbyists for the so-called “Fair Tax Coalition” in Vancouver. To hear them tell it, both municipal property tax levels and municipal spending are out of control in B.C.. But the facts tell a different story.

Two significant studies were prepared in May of 2010, which are both full of information that help explain what’s really going on.

Let’s start in Vancouver. On May 12, 2010, well known global advisory firm KPMG released their annual guide to international business costs as well as a special report on taxes. That report compared major cities around the world, each with populations of more than 2 million people. Their finding? Vancouver has the lowest business tax costs of 41 international cities! That means businesses in Vancouver have lower tax costs than businesses in New York, London, Houston, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Berlin and many more. So if business taxes in Vancouver are that low, how come the City of Vancouver is continuing  the big multi-year tax shift begun by the NPA, steadily increasing residential property taxes and cutting programs, while at the same time freezing commercial and industrial tax levels? Beats me.

The other interesting finding of the KPMG study is that Canada has the second lowest business tax costs out of ten countries they studied. Only Mexico has lower business tax costs. Countries as varied as the U.S., the U.K., Japan and Australia all have higher tax costs for business than Canada.

What about municipal spending and taxes in the rest of B.C.?

The other important study prepared last May was by Dr. Harry Kitchen of Trent University, a widely respected expert on Canadian municipal tax issues. He was asked by Metro Vancouver to study principles and best practices for financing municipal services in the Metro Vancouver region.

The report is full of important data. Amongst other things, Dr. Kitchen found:

• municipal spending per capita in British Columbia is the lowest of all provinces
• per capita municipal property taxes in B.C. are well below the tax levels in the other big provinces of Alberta, Quebec and Ontario and are lower than the Canadian average
• overall municipal revenues in B.C. are lower per capita than the other big provinces of Alberta, Quebec and Ontario
• over the decade from 1998 to 2008, municipal revenue in B.C. rose only marginally ie. by only .1% of GDP

So it isn’t only business property taxes which are low. We’re all getting a great deal at the municipal level. B.C. local governments use those comparatively low property taxes to provide many of the core services citizens expect – everything from fire and police services, to clean water, healthy sanitation, garbage and recycling collection, transit, urban planning and much more.

But year after year,  B.C. municipalities are under unrelenting pressure to reduce property taxes. The most egregious example is the industrial property tax revolt led by Catalyst Paper. This year, Catalyst has decided to pick on the small District of North Cowichan. Once again, the company has decided to pay only about one third of the legally assessed taxes it owes. Catalyst is dragging small North Cowichan before the Supreme Court of Canada to defend its tax rates, even though Catalyst lost its earlier court actions at the B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Court of Appeal. In Powell River, the town is facing community opposition to a deal with Catalyst in which property taxes will be capped in exchange for an annual fee to pay for privatized treatment of the town’s sewage and wastewater . In Campbell River, the Elk Falls mill was permanently closed, even though the municipality has been steadily reducing the portion of municipal taxes paid by Catalyst, reducing it from 35% of municipal revenue to 25% last year. In Port Alberni, pressure from Catalyst prompted the town to increase residential property tax rates by 23% in 2009.

None of this is necessary or justified. As noted at this year’s UBCM Convention in Whistler, there has been no independent study that shows property taxes are actually damaging business. That’s probably because they’re amongst the lowest in Canada and internationally.

British Columbians need to recognise the great deal we’re getting for the property taxes we pay. And we need to look at what other provinces are doing to diversify municipal revenue so communities are not so dependent on property taxes. In Saskatchewan, municipalities receive one percentage point of the provincial sales tax. In Ontario, municipalities have options like a personal vehicle levy, municipal land transfer taxes and the authority to charge sales tax on alcohol.

But first, we need to look at the facts and then put a stop to this big municipal tax shift.

Take B.C.’s approach to the recent Canada/U.S. Procurement Agreement (also known as the “Buy American” deal). That’s the agreement which gives temporary access for Canadian companies to a tiny portion of the U.S. government’s stimulus spending in exchange for provinces and municipalities giving up the right to use local purchasing policies to create local jobs.

Alone amongst the provinces, only B.C. failed to exempt even a single municipality or provincial agency from the terms of the agreement. That means even the tiniest villages and the biggest provincial Crowns in B.C. are all covered without exception.

The exemptions agreed to by all the  provinces are set out in annexes and appendices to the Agreement. The simple phrases that B.C. inserted throughout the deal are either: “All Crown Corporations and all muncipalities are covered.” or “All Ministries, Boards, Commissions, Agencies and Committees of the Province.” (..are covered). The only small exemption they sought was for the Legislative Assembly of B.C. itself.

Contrast that with the thoughtful and strategic approach of other provinces. For example, there’s our T.I.L.M.A. partner province of Alberta…often thought of as to the right of other jurisdictions. Alberta carved out exemptions for all small Alberta towns (all with a population smaller than Medicine Hat or Red Deer) and also achieved exemptions for the Alberta Local Authorities Pension Plan, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, the Alberta Research Council and much more.

Or there’s Saskatchewan, which carved out exemptions for all municipalities other than Regina and Saskatoon, plus eight Crown Corporations including the Saskatchewan Insurance Corporation.

Other protected exemptions elsewhere? Manitoba Hydro, Ontario’s Hydro One, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and Hydro Quebec. School boards, post-secondary institutions and health authorities in Nova Scotia. Transit and highway procurement in Ontario. The list goes on to exempt dozens of agencies right across the country.

But not in B.C.  Here, everything is covered including B.C. Hydro, I.C.B.C., all the B.C. Pension Corporations, all municipalities, all school boards, all health authorities. Everything.

When it comes to trade, the B.C. government is the Truest of the True Believers. They have an ideological commitment which is basically all trade agreements, all the time.

British Columbians have a right to expect a government which takes a strategic and nuanced approach like all the other provinces. But we don’t have it. We have an ideological government instead.

Imagine what the B.C. government is busy conceding and giving up in the latest round of Canada/E.U. negotiations taking place in Ottawa this week.

The fashionable electoral reform idea this year is to give corporations a real say. It’s time for individual citizens to share their electoral democracy with corporations to give meaning to those old legal rulings that said corporations are people too.

Of course, many were shocked at the Jan. 21st decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which said corporate entities have full First Amendment free speech rights, thereby trashing decades of U.S. legislation to limit election advertising spending by corporation and unions. There are now no limits on the amounts corporations can spend on political advertising in the U.S.

But did you know Gordon Campbell and the B.C. government are looking at the option of one-upping the Supremes  by giving corporations the right to vote?

It’s true.

Last October, the Premier announced the creation of a joint task force with the Union of B.C. Municipalities to review the rules for local government elections. The terms of reference for the task force direct them to examine giving corporations the right to vote in B.C. municipal elections. The committee is to report out in May and changes to legislation are expected not long after.

It seems corporations in B.C. feel they have inadequate influence on government decision-making, particularly about taxes. All that tax cutting and tax shifting of the last twenty years is apparently not enough.

Industrial ratepayers  in forest communities and commercial ratepayers in Vancouver have recently been pushing hard for homeowners to pay a greater percentage of municipal taxes. Starting in July, forest companies operating in six B.C. communities simply refused to pay their full tax bills and arbitrarily sent in cheques for only a quarter of what they had been legally assessed. The B.C. Supreme Court has ordered Catalyst Paper to pay in full, but the company is appealing and communities with Catalyst mills are feeling the crunch. Port Alberni is now planning to increase taxes for homeowners by 23.6%, while also reducing and contracting out services.

Corporations once had the right to vote in B.C. local elections, but that was eliminated by the Barrett government in 1973, restored by the Bennett government in 1976 and eliminated altogether again by the Harcourt government in 1993.

Today, there is no corporate voting in any other province and indeed – according to the task force discussion paper – the only place in the world which has it now is “The City”, that small portion of greater London which is home to much of the British financial sector.

The discussion paper also raises the amazing prospect that if B.C. does give corporations the right to vote, non-discrimination clauses in trade agreements like NAFTA and TILMA may make it impossible to restrict that right to B.C. corporations only. There’s every chance the trade agreements will force us to open up voting to foreign corporations doing business in B.C., as well.

Old fashioned ideas like “one human being, one vote” may soon be behind us. If this goes ahead, we can look forward to corporations finally having effective input and full equality with human beings.

It’s time for a refresher on all this. I think I’ll take another look at Joel Bakan’s outstanding video “The Corporation“.