Reaction to the city’s 2024 budget predictably focused on the hefty tax increases, particularly on commercial property.
Coun. Alicia Despins of the official opposition Québec D’Abord party told the QCT, “We regret the 4.7 per cent increase in taxes for small business owners. They are already burdened with the impact of COVID and this only mires them further in financial difficulties.”
On the positive side, Despins said, “We are supportive of the new eco-fiscal measures, particularly the tax on vacant land,” but she said the city could have gone further. “In Montreal, it is currently 25 per cent, but in Quebec City, it’s only four per cent.”
Despins, who represents the Lower Town district of Vanier, said she was disappointed the city administration did not accept her party’s suggestions for diversifying revenue sources. “The burden cannot fall entirely on the shoulders of property owners.”
Steeve Lavoie, president and CEO of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a statement Mayor Bruno Marchand “is moving dangerously away from his 2021 election promise” to reduce taxes on business.
Lavoie said, “Quebec [City] is one of the cities where merchants are taxed the most in Canada. Mr. Marchand said he wanted local companies to be among the 50 per cent least taxed in the country before the end of his mandate. We’re moving away from it.”
Coun. Jackie Smith, leader of Transition Québec and councillor for Limoilou, said in a news release, “I am satisfied that the city is embarking on the path of eco-taxation, a concept that I was already hammering home during the electoral campaign and that I took up again when presenting the 2023 budget.
“The variation in taxes based on energy consumption, water and waste production in non-residential areas, taxation on surface parking in the city centre and the increase in [parking] sticker fees are in line with my requests.”
“However,” Smith said, “I believe the city must go further with these types of measures. I agree that the ideal way to change behaviour is to do it gradually, but unfortunately, I don’t believe that this is what the environmental context requires.”
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Coun. Alicia Despins of Québec D’Abord says she believes tax measures in the 2024 budget represent a burden for businesses.
Photo from Ville de Québec