Mayoral candidate Loney revives former mayor Katz's pledge to eliminate business tax

Mayoral candidate Shaun Loney promises to eliminate Winnipeg's business tax as part of a broader pledge to reform the way the city collects revenue.

Loney said Monday thatif he's elected this fall, he will phase out the city's business tax and eventually fold it into commercial property taxes.

The City of Winnipeg collects about $57 million a year by levying a 4.84 per cent tax on the largest city businesses. Roughly 45 per cent of businesses in the cityare subject to the tax this year.

Loney said the move would be revenue neutral. He said the city would increase the commercial property taxes to raise the revenue lost from eliminating the business tax.

"We're the only major city in Canada that charges a business tax," Loney said Monday in an interview.

"When companies are comparing Winnipeg to other jurisdictions on where to locate, they're able to compare apples to apples and not have this strange tax."

Katz's pledge

Former Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz pledged to eliminate the tax when he originally ran for mayor in 2004, during a byelection sparked by former mayor Glen Murray's resignation halfway through his second term.

Katz initially scaled back the tax but wound up freezing it instead of eliminating it when his administration found it difficult to replace the revenue. Under Katz's successor, Brian Bowman, the city continued freezing the amount of money collected from the tax but applying it to fewer and fewer businesses.

Loney said his proposal is nothing like Katz's. He said he wouldalso increase revenue through means such as levying higher taxes on commercial parking.

The Katz administration also explored the idea of levying higher taxes on surface parking lots but opted for incentives to develop on surface lots instead. The City of Winnipeg charter requires the city to levy "a single rate of real property tax," which means any additional taxes on parking could be subject to a legal challenge.

Loney also pledged to eliminate a city zoning requirement that forces residential and commercial propertiesto have a minimum number of parking spots.

Fellow mayoral candidate Rick Shone made the same promise in June.

Loneyalso promised to change parking meter charges to variable rates instead of fixed rates and toincentivize energy-saving developments featuring solar power, heat pumps and energy retrofits.

Loney, Shone and Murray are among 12 candidates running for mayor. The other candidates are Idris Adelakun, Rana Bokhari, Chris Clacio, Scott Gillingham, Jenny Motkaluk, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Jessica Peebles, Desmond Thomas and Don Woodstock.

Candidates must complete the nominations process in September in order to appear on the Oct. 26ballot.