OPINION
14
FEBRUARY 2016 A division of Invest Northwest Publishing Ltd. Prince George Office 2871 Wildwood Cres Prince George, BC V2K3J4 Toll free: 1.866.758.2684 Fax: 778.441.3373 Email: info@businessexaminer.ca Website: www.businessexaminer.ca
PUBLISHER/EDITOR | Lise MacDonald, lise@businessexaminer.ca SALES | Shawn Bishop, shawn@businessvi.ca; Josh Higgins josh@businessvi.ca; Joanne Iormetti, Joanne@businessexaminer.ca WRITERS | Goody Niosi, Beth Hendry-Yim, John MacDonald, David Holmes WEBSITE | John MacDonald, john@businessexaminer.ca
MAYBE IT’S TIME TO MIX BUSINESS AND POLITICS IN THE OFFICE
MARK MACDONALD
W
e are often advised to separate business and politics. Maybe it’s about time we did. We know the logic behind this, and it is sound. Don’t contaminate the workplace with political discussions, knowing it could engender strife and division amongst the staff. Don’t use your position of influence as an owner/manager to share your political beliefs with staff, as it could possibly be viewed as intimidation. And generally, it’s not good for business. It takes away from the valuable time you’re paying for, and that is to have your workers work on your business – not ruminate about municipal, provincial or federal political campaigns. But have we reached a point
in our societal conversations that those owning or operating businesses need to inject their opinions into their companies, to make sure employees are getting important information they will need to make truly informed decisions? Look at the landscape. Unions are unabashed of their support of the NDP. They dream of the day when a socialist party can wrest the controls from free enterprise, thinking this will bring untold prosperity to their dues-paying members. They spend thousands of dollars in union dues to try and make it happen. While the nightmare of a decade of NDP rule in B.C. under the combined Mike Harcourt-Glen Clark-Ujjal Dosanjh-Dan Miller leadership may seem a distant memory to some, it certainly isn’t to those operating businesses during the 1990’s in this province. The NDP produced a made-in-BC recession that the rest of the country avoided. Business owners remember that. A new generation of voters does not. We actually don’t need our memories to see what damage an NDP government can do to an economy. We have a vivid example right next door in Alberta, where Premier Rachel Notley’s
crew is inflicting devastation on the province, with thousands and thousands of jobs lost already – and they’re only a year into the mandate. In times past, municipal governments were viewed as the NDP farm teams, reloading for runs at provincial and federal levels. The media can share that mantle now, almost as unofficial, unpaid NDP staff. We saw during the last federal election how the media, in general, forfeited any semblance of objectivity to push their own opinions through the news to influence the public. If you don’t believe it, watch what’s happening again, right now, with the by-elections. With provincial by-elections underway, the political machines are firing on all cylinders. In BC, this is a two-horse race, with the NDP battling the reigning BC Liberals for two lower mainland ridings. Premier Christy Clark’s government is being raked over the coals by the lower mainland media, as “in-depth” articles expose the supposed/alleged missteps of the provincial government. At the same time, nary a negative word is spoken or written about the NDP. Almost no one in the media holds the NDP to task for its dark
history, or even draws the link between the NDP in BC and the Notley Crew in Alberta. But it’s exactly the same philosophy that is ruining Alberta that would wait BC if voters ever decide again to give the NDP a chance here. I have spoken to media owners, asking them directly why they, as owners of businesses, turn the most influential part of their business – the editorial departments – over to the left? Why don’t they at least insist on having something close to a balance in their newsrooms of right/left employees with differing voices and thought? Wouldn’t that best serve the public – and their business, because an anti-business government would hurt their companies too? And if we think students are getting a balanced view of both sides of the political spectrum from unionized teachers, then we’d better think again. So, with all that, who is talking about the importance of government policy on creating wealth and jobs? The jobs that your company provides, which help people raise families, educate their children, and give them a great quality of life? They’re not getting that from the classroom or the media. In fact, the media and Hollywood seems to
do their best to demonize business under the collective cloud of “corporate greed”, and developers as individuals who are intent on destroying the environment in pursuit of profit. Maybe it’s time for you to have some fireside chats with your employees about what an antibusiness government’s policies would do to their jobs, and ultimately, their families. Perhaps they’ll ponder those points and bring them up at the dinner table, so that everyone in the family receives a balanced viewpoint on the importance of not just getting out to vote, but vote with a healthy perspective on politics, period. I know business friends of mine who are much more direct in addressing their staff about political matters, and how voting a certain way could likely affect their future employment opportunities. They don’t threaten their workers, and don’t know how they’ll actually cast their ballots, but they do have their say. Unions do it. The media does it. Perhaps it’s time that business owners and managers get involved in that conversation with those who work for them, because a good economy is necessary for their jobs, too.
provincial level, the threshold for property values eligible for the provincial homeowner grant went up shortly after the assessment notices landed to protect many residents from what would effectively feel like a tax increase. Meanwhile, the province is as guilty of charging businesses more than their fair share on the portion of the property tax bi l l that is u nder thei r control. For example, in Vancouver, businesses pay 4.4 times more than residents in school taxes. In dollar terms, a resident pays $2,020 on an average value property, while a business pays $8,890. Show i ng leadersh ip by reducing this inequity is something Finance Minister Mike de Jong should seriously consider for his upcoming budget, as it is considered important by 77 per cent of BC small businesses, according to a survey done by t he Canadian Federation of Independent Business last September. Ninety per cent of businesses support the province limiting the amount of property taxes that businesses can pay relative to residents (e.g. small
businesses pay a maximum of tw ice t he a mou nt residents pay). It’s not all bad news. For businesses, the gap between what they should pay and what they do pay is still way too high, but it has been getting better in many municipalities, including Vancouver. Another ray of hope for business is that there is g reater understanding of the problem than there was 10 years ago. R esidents c a re ab out sm a l l busi ness because they contribute so much to making our communities livable. Increasingly, people understand that i f govern ments a re u n fa i rly taxing small businesses, their favou rite restau rants, d ress shops, bakeries and dry-cleaners have less capacity to keep prices reasonable, create jobs, or even exist at all.
BC BUSINESSES WANT UNEQUAL TAX BILLS CUT A resident would pay $2,713 in municipal property taxes on that value, while a small business would pay $11,260 for a property of the same value LAURA JONES
G
asps were heard across the Lower Mainland last w e e k a s p ro p e r t y a ssessment notices landed and thoughts of, “My property is worth how much???” gave way to, “Holy mackerel, what does this mean for my taxes?” It’s even worse for businesses. On average, BC small businesses will pay 2.6 times the municipal property tax of an equivalently valued residence. I n m a n y M e t ro Va n c o u v e r municipalities, this gap is far worse. For example, Coquitlam businesses pay 4.2 times more municipal taxes, while companies in Vancouver and Burnaby pay four times more than
residents. To put this in dollar terms, in 2015 an average residential property in Vancouver was worth $1,532,937. A resident would pay $2,713 in municipal property taxes on that value, while a small business would pay $11,260 for a property of the same value. A greengrocer has to sell a lot of oranges to pay that bill. This unfairness is even worse than it seems on the surface because businesses use fewer municipal services than residents.
A 2007 report done by MMK Consulting for the City of Vancouver found that, on average, residential properties in the city paid approximately $0.56 in property taxes for each dollar of ta x-supported service consumed, while business paid $2.42 in property taxes for every dollar of tax-supported services consumed. While the study is a bit dated, there is no reason to think the numbers would be much different today. One automotive shop owner comically captures how the inequity feels: “I know now what it must have been like for the peasants in medieval times, as far as having to pay taxes that amounted to a lot of nothing in return.” His property tax bill is now over $60,000. “It’s like paying an employee … but this one never shows up to work!” What drives the inequity? I have yet to hear of a sound public policy rationale for charging businesses more than residents. But the political temptation is clear — businesses don’t vote, residents do. The reaction to this incentive both municipally and provincially is also clear. At the
Laura Jones is executive vicepresident of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. She can be reached at laura.jones@cfib.ca. Follow her on twitter @CFIBideas.
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