The provincial government released its budget this week and concerns over possible changes to the BC Ports Property Tax Act or Assessment Act were allayed. The land valuation appreciation will be linked to CPI plus 1 percentage point and municipalities may only have a distinct tax rate for ports when the class 4 tax rate is below the designated port tax rate cap and the new rate for ports cannot be higher than the class 4 rate set in 2017. This change preserves the tax rate security for terminals by keeping the existing caps and avoiding unintended benefit of reduced tax rates due to non-designated land value increases. These changes are consistent with the recommendations put forth by the BC Marine Terminal Operators Association earlier this year.
