Green Leader Wants To Fix Property Tax System

The leader of New Brunswick’s Green Party is promising changes to what he calls a “broken” property tax system if elected.

During a campaign stop in Saint John on Wednesday, David Coon promised to make the system fairer for small businesses and resident.

“The property tax system has become corrupted and I am going to clean it up,” said Coon.

Coon said too many Progressive Conservative and Liberal governments have enabled heavy industry to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

“In Saint John, for example, residential taxpayers, so homeowners, pay 61 per cent of all the property taxes while heavy industry just pays eight per cent,” he said.

Coon said he would close a loophole in the system which allows heavy industry to receive property tax cuts if their income drops.

“You and I can’t do that as a homeowner. If we lose our jobs and our income has dropped, we can’t have any change to our property taxes. If we own a small business and we’ve been hit hard because of COVID, we can’t apply to New Brunswick for a reduction in our property taxes.”

Coon said he would also end tax breaks heavy industry receives on industrial machinery and heavy equipment.

He previously proposed a private member’s bill to do just that but it did not make it through the legislature.

Coon said he would also ensure more property tax revenue stays with municipalities but did not provide an exact dollar figure.

“That’s something we’ll investigate carefully and ensure that we don’t, at the same time in any way, create fiscal implications or complications for the provincial budget,” he said.

A Green government would also create a “uniformity provision” in the Assessment Act, he said, which would require similar residential properties to have similar assessments.

Currently in New Brunswick, Coon said two identical properties in the same neighbourhood could have “wildly different” assessments, which he calls a “major flat” in the property tax system.

Green Party leader David Coon made a stop in #SaintJohn this morning, promising changes to the property tax system if elected. pic.twitter.com/irSfAUtIPl

— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) August 26, 2020