a MEY ee ne eae SEEM June 13, 1993 48 pages Taste of summer ri AMG coe oe os bb, Re cieeuee Oven! cS Office, Editorial 985-2131 | VARCOUVER QATUWAS Squamish paddlers journey up the coast to native festival. Display Advertising 980-0511 Small businesses blast property tax hikes SMALL BUSINESSES based in North Vancouver District will be forced to pack up and jeave the area if the municipality does not quickly address the issue of escalating property taxes, two local business operators have charged. But Nosth Vancouver District Coun. Ernie Crist said the average district business owner is paying less in taxes this year when com- pared with taxes paid by residen- tial property owners. He said that council needs to review the taxation rates of com- mercial and industrial properties as compared with residential pro- perties. Trevor Roote, a_ longtime North Shore businessman, works By Surj Rattan News Reporter with Westgulf Enterprises Ltd. The industrial property devel- opment company rents space to several small businesses. Roote said many of the com- pany’s tenants are experiencing a downturn in business and marginal profits. He said his tenants are paying more in property taxes than resi- dential property owners. “They just cannot afford more taxes being loaded on to them. We think it is time that municipal councils take a good hard look at the fairness of taxation between rates applied to residential businesses and industrial proper- ties,’’ said Roote. He cites the average home assessment level printed in’ the district's Tax Facts brochure. A home assessed at $270,500 would this year pay $2,186 in gross taxes, or $1,716 net tax after a $470 homeowner’s grant is ap- plied. See Municipal page 5 SEAPARK playground. Classifieds 986-6222 Clark outlines FINANCE MINISTER) Glen Clark has introduced legislative amendments that he said’ will reduce or eliminate the cor- poration capital tax for about 3,500 B.C. small businesses. Bill 40 increases the Cor- poration Capital Tax exemp- tion threshold to $1.25 million from $1 million of paid-up capital, Clark said the amendment eliminates the tax for about 2,000 small businesses. He added that a further 1,500 will pay less tax because of the phase-in provisions be- Bruce Fuller has big plans for an exotic NEWS photo Cindy Goodman FIVE-YEAR-OLD twin sisters Courtney and Malory Watt get a taste of summer with home-made frozen treats. The weather is also becoming more summer-like. Sunshine is predicted for the next several days, with highs in the low 20s. Bill 40 changes tween $1.25 million and $1.5 million of paid-up capital. The bill also makes a number of technical changes including: @ exempting housing coopera- tives, apartment corporations, mortgage investment corpora- tions and bankrupt corpora- tions; @ eliminating potential double taxation related to the use of capital leases and; @ extending the two-year tax holiday available under section 14 to operating leases.