Even with an average reduction of $7,700 in taxes as relief because of COVID-19, Richmond businesses still pay almost 43 per cent of all taxes in the city, despite totalling just 9.25 per cent of all properties.
And the top 100 commercial properties pay half of all commercial taxes to the city, $51 million out of the almost $100 million. On top of that, the municipality collects about 50 per cent more in taxes and levies on behalf of other agencies, like Metro Vancouver and TransLink.
A memo to Richmond council on the revised tax roll for 2020 – outlining the top 100 businesses and what they pay in taxes – showed commercial properties in total, of which there were 7,878, contributed almost $100 million in municipal taxes, and about $150 million when other municipally collected taxes were added.
Taxation revenues of all properties in Richmond in 2020 is budgeted at $239 million.
The provincial government reduced school taxes for commercial properties to provide some relief during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic slowdown. This resulted in a tax reduction of about 25 per cent.
The top commercial taxpayer in Richmond is the airport, paying about $6.3 million to the city ($9.5 million in total municipally collected taxes). The second highest was the Port Authority, whose tax bill to the city is $4.9 million ($7.4 million in total collected by the city). The third is Richmond Centre at $2.4 million ($3.6 million) and the fourth, Lansdowne at about $1.9 million ($2.8 million).
Of the top 100 commercial properties listed, 16 are either numbered companies or holding companies, including the Richmond Centre property.
