Both the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce are urging the City of Saskatoon to go easy on businesses as they explore restructuring the property tax policy.  

 The City of Saskatoon recently announced that it would be engaging with the public on the matter, a decision that Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce CEO Jason Aebig says is a very positive, yet long overdue, development. Aebig says predictability, transparency, clarity, and fairness are factors that should hold the spotlight within the new policy. 

“We’ve talked for many years about the importance of fairness and proportionality. That’s really the allocation between the residential and business tax classes. In some cases, it doesn’t reflect who is drawing benefits directly from City services.” 

He explains that commercial properties are paying over half of the city’s tax revenue while consuming a much smaller share of city services. For example, they don’t utilize recreation, libraries, or waste and recycling services.  

“No one is suggesting that the commercial taxpayer doesn’t have a vested interest in those things. We do need to invest in those things as a community, we just need to make sure our approach is fair.” 

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is also calling on the City to think of small businesses, and “avoid shifting an even greater share of the municipal tax burden onto small firms.”  The CFIB adds that Saskatoon businesses pay 71 per cent more in property taxes than residential property owners on properties with the same assessed value, a disproportionate share of the burden. 

The City is currently collecting public feedback on the matter via focus groups and an online survey. The survey is available here.