New laws around how farmland can be taxed in B.C. may soon be on the horizon thanks to the recent endorsement of two Pitt Meadows proposals at the 2024 UBCM Convention.
This annual meeting of the Union of B.C. Municipalities saw hundreds of proposals be addressed, which included several proposals submitted by the City of Pitt Meadows.
All three of the Pitt Meadows proposals revolved around the taxation of farmland, suggesting measures to hopefully reduce the amount of Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) property that is currently going unfarmed or is not being farmed to its full potential.
Pitt Meadows Mayor Nicole MacDonald, who is also one of the Metro Vancouver representatives for the UBCM, explained that she was incredibly pleased to see two of the city's resolutions endorsed at the annual convention.
"I am extremely proud of the work our city has been doing towards reform in the farm property tax system to better support agricultural viability in our community and across British Columbia," said MacDonald.
The first of the endorsed proposals was for the provincial government to create an unfarmed land tax that would be applied to any landowners who are not utilizing their property within the ALR for farming.
The second of the proposals asked for vacant or unfarmed land to no longer be eligible to receive the school tax exemption.
"The principle of these resolutions is to promote a productive agricultural land base," said MacDonald. "Food security and sustainability is a growing concern for the region; and without local farms, there is no local food."
The third proposal, which was referred to the UBCM executive due to time constraints, referred to raising the minimum gross income required in order for a property to be classified as a farm and receive the tax benefits associated with this.
Now that two of the three requests submitted by Pitt Meadows have been endorsed by the UBCM, they will be sent to the appropriate ministries of the B.C. government, which will then issue responses.
