Vancouver remains the Canadian city with the lowest commercial tax rate, despite properties being taxed nearly five times more than comparable residential real estate.
Vancouver is the only city with a commercial-to-residential tax ratio of more than 4:1. Vancouver commercial owners pay 4.87 times the residential rate, Altus Group’s 2017 benchmark report shows. The national average tax rate for all ten municipalities surveyed – including Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Ottawa, Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver – is 2.85 time the residential rate.
However, Vancouverites only pay $12,440 in property taxes per $1 million of a commercial property’s assessed value. Meanwhile, Toronto commercial is taxed only 3.81 times higher than residential, but pay $25,360 per $1 million of assessed value.
This is because Vancouver residential tax rates also remain lower than Toronto rates. Vancouver homeowners only pay 2,550 per $1 million of assessed value, while Torontonians pay $6,662 per $1 million of residential assessed value. However, because property values are so high in Vancouver, commercial tenants and residential owners could stand to pay more taxes in the long run, because their assessed values are often the highest in the country. Property taxes are calculated by multiplying the propertery tax rate by the property's assessed value. .
Vancouver commercial rates decreased 10.23 per cent year-over-year in 2017.
Residential and commercial rates also decreased in Saskatoon and Regina, giving the cities the second and third-lowest tax rates in the country, respectively.
