Scrap the Tax Cap Petition delivered to Legislature; it's progress from there in the hands of the NDP Government

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice delivered the petition initiative to
the Legislature on Wednesday afternoon

North Coast Jennifer Rice has presented  the Scrap the Tax Cap Petition to the Legislature, Ms. Rice noting of the 1,784 names that had been collected towards the goal of bringing about the end of the Port Tax Property Act for properties associated with the  Prince Rupert Port Authority. 

A financial instrument that the proponents say is depriving the City of Prince Rupert of valuable money for infrastructure and other civic uses.

The Legislature record will show that Ms. Rice rose at 2:44 on Wednesday afternoon to present the petition her commentary providing a fast paced review of some of the familiar themes from the proponents of the fall petition drive in Prince Rupert.

"I rise today to present a petition. 

The undersigned petitioners call on the government of British Columbia and the Legislative Assembly to amend the Ports Property Tax Act, SBC 2004, as soon as possible, to reinstate a sunset clause or to exempt the City of Prince Rupert. 

The legislation was instituted in 2004 as a temporary incentive to spur port investment. 

In hindsight, that goal was achieved. 

Granting petitioners this request will have numerous benefits, such as the tax burden no longer being unfairly shifted from port industries to homeowners and small businesses. 

The provincial treasury will save millions of dollars. Taxpayers will no longer subsidize wealthy multinational corporations. 

The risk of trade war with the USA can be avoided, municipal tax autonomy will be restored, and lastly, port properties will finally pay their fair share of property taxes to support vital investments in communities."

Such was the volume of material that the MLA had to present, that Ms. Rice ran out of the allowed time for her presentation to the Legislature Chamber.

The MLA got the petition in just under the wire this week, following today's sessions the Legislature will be taking a two week Spring break from its duties, set to return on March 27th.

The presentation of the petition brings an end to the odyssey which was launched on September 9th  and involved a number of residents of the community, including some high profile support from former Prince Rupert City Councillor Blair Mirau and former Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain.

With the petition running concurrently to the municipal election, the petition quest found support from all of those seeking office both incumbents and hopefuls at the time, the topic serving as a current of conversation that dominated much of the campaign period.

The social media feed created for the petition drive celebrated its arrival at the Legislature on Wednesday.

You  can review the MLA's comments for the Legislature from the video below:

With the petition now delivered, what becomes of the Port Tax Cap legislation remains in the hands of the Finance Minister and Premier.

The province recently announced additional funding for municipalities from a one billion dollar infrastructure fund, with Ms. Rice noting last Friday that the Prince Rupert share will be just over 4 million dollars.

As well, at Monday's City Council Session, Mayor Herb Pond outlined some positive notes related to the ongoing work of the Resource Benefits Alliance for a larger share of resource monies for communities in the northwest. The Mayor observing how he believes the 'dial is moving' on the initiative.

Since the petition was launched last September, there has been little heard from province towards whether it would eliminate the Port Tax Cap regimen currently in place.  

Something that they may be less inclined to consider further,  now that they are ramping up some of their other funding for communities.

We reviewed much of the background to the long running petition drive from our Civic Financial archive page here. 

The majority of those notes are found in the 2022 archive listings.

More notes from the Legislature can be reviewed here.

While past Council Discussion themes can be explored here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.