B.C. Small Businesses & the Municipal Vote

Small businesses in B.C. are fighting to regain the municipal vote and have their voices heard at the ballot box. Up until 1993, B.C. small businesses could vote in municipal elections. The ability to vote recognized the contribution small- and medium-sized businesses make to the economy and to our communities. The decision to rescind the business vote was an historic mistake that must be corrected.?

No taxation without representation: B.C. small business want their voice heard.

Small businesses in B.C. are fighting to regain the municipal vote and have their voices heard at the ballot box.

Up until 1993, B.C. small businesses could vote in municipal elections. The ability to vote recognized the contribution small- and medium-sized businesses make to the economy and to our communities. The decision to rescind the business vote was an historic mistake that must be corrected.


Businesses are increasingly disenfranchised on many local-government issues, including bylaws, user fees, permits, licensing and land use. But one issue clearly illustrates a disparity between businesses’ contribution to their local communities and their right to be heard. If nothing else, bearing a disproportionate share of the tax burden ought to entitle businesses the right to be heard at municipal election time. 

 

Businesses pay on average three, and up to seven, times more property tax than a resident on property of the same value. To add insult to injury, businesses pay for their garbage collection on top of that. In Vancouver a 2008 average residential property was worth $941,999, and the owner would have paid $3,870 in taxes on that property. A business owner would have paid $18,973 on property of the same value; that’s almost five times more.


Consider Deanna Geisheimer, president of Art Works Gallery in Vancouver, who reported that her municipal property taxes went from $28,158 in 2002 to $96,805 in 2009. As Geisheimer says, “Businesses are falling woefully behind anything close to fair and equitable treatment.” 


To express their frustration at not being heard at election time, B.C. small- and medium-sized ­businesses have signed 6,039 individual petitions requesting the return of the business vote in local government ­elections. In a recent Canadian Federation of Independent Business vote, 80 per cent of our members indicated they support the return of the business vote in municipal elections.


Overtaxed and under-represented, small- and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of B.C.’s economy. They account for 98 per cent of all businesses and 34 per cent of our gross domestic product. Eighty-two per cent have fewer than five employees and together they employ 56 per cent of B.C.’s private-sector workforce.


Many small-business owners work over 60 hours a week. They take very personal risks like mortgaging their homes in order to help drive our economy and benefit society by keeping staff employed in tough circumstances. In the recent recession, businesses with one to 19 employees only laid off 0.5 per cent of their staff compared to businesses with more than 500 employees that laid off 8.8 per cent.


So how can we get municipal governments to recognize this vital contribution? The answer lies in a well-established principle: no taxation without representation. If municipalities are going to tax small businesses on average three times more than individuals, fairness requires we grant businesses a single vote.


As municipal affairs minister in 1993, Robin Blencoe repealed the business vote, claiming that it removes the possibility of people simply leasing storage lockers to vote. Blencoe’s flippancy was just one indication of how decision-makers overlook the concerns of small businesses.


In London, England, the birthplace of our democracy, businesses have a number of votes based on their number of employees. Here in B.C., it would be reasonable to give every business one vote only, giving them one vote to every 7.7 citizens, whether they own, lease or rent their premises – just as residents qualify regardless of whether they own, lease or rent a home.


B.C.’s decision to remove the business vote reflected widespread ignorance about small-businesses owners and their contributions to society. The only thing that will start to grant business owners representation and accountability with their municipal tax masters is restoration of the municipal business vote. n