A new bill before the legislature would allow municipalities to extend new commercial property tax exemptions to manufacturing, processing and other industrial sites to help towns attract and retain businesses.
JANET FRENCH Updated: November 27, 2019
“A new bill before the legislature would allow municipalities to extend new commercial property tax exemptions to manufacturing, processing and other industrial sites to help towns attract and retain businesses.
The proposal comes on the heels of legislation earlier this year that amended the Municipal Government Act to allow cities, towns and other municipalities to offer businesses a property tax break for up to 15 years. Bill 7, which came into force last June, would also allow towns to provide a lure to attract certain types of businesses — such as a restaurant or an auto repair shop — to open in a specific area.
“Business and industry stakeholders said this was a good change,” Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu said at the legislature Wednesday. “But they also said that expanding the tax incentives to include machinery and equipment taxes will be even better. We have listened, and now we are acting.”
Property classified as “machinery and equipment” includes manufacturing, processing, oil and gas pipelines, land used for excavation or transportation of oil or coal, telecommunications and electrical power systems.
There’s about $85 billion worth of land classified as machinery and equipment in Alberta, about 80 per cent of which is industrial land overseen by an energy regulator.
Right now, land assessed as machinery and equipment is not charged education property taxes.”