Local Government Funding Reform Act
Category: Governance — Governance
Summary
Reform property tax sharing and increase provincial support for municipal infrastructure.
What this proposal changes
- Increases BC's provincial unconditional grant to municipalities from 8 cents to 12 cents per $100 of assessed residential property value.
- Creates a new BC Infrastructure Sharing Fund distributing 2% of provincial income tax revenues to local governments based on population and infrastructure age.
- Removes province-imposed development cost charge caps, allowing municipalities to set charges that fully reflect infrastructure costs of new development.
- Requires the province to consult municipalities before downloading new responsibilities without commensurate funding.
Arguments for
- Property tax is a regressive and inflexible revenue source; municipalities are structurally underfunded relative to service-delivery responsibilities.
- Income tax revenue-sharing aligns municipal funding with the economic cycle in a way that property assessment does not.
- Full development cost recovery removes the subsidy that current homeowners and taxpayers provide to new development.
Arguments against
- Increasing unconditional grants by 50% costs the province $500+ million annually with no direct program accountability.
- Infrastructure Sharing Fund based on infrastructure age may reward municipalities that deferred maintenance and penalise those that invested proactively.
- Removing development cost charge caps could significantly increase housing costs in growing communities, worsening affordability.
Cost & implementation
Grant increase: $500–700 million annually. Infrastructure Sharing Fund: $300–500 million annually. Development cost charge reform: no direct cost; redistributes costs from taxpayers to developers.
Jurisdiction & legal authority
Local government finance is fully within provincial jurisdiction under the Community Charter and Local Government Act. No federal approval required.
How to vote
Visit cascadia.vote/questions/pnwc-A33 to cast your vote: Yes, No, or Maybe.
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