Producers who have seen their tax bill double threaten to boycott businesses they say are getting a tax break
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. — Farmers are vexed and frustrated by huge increases in farmland taxes, but solutions appeared hard to come by during Keystone Agricultural Producers’ advisory council meeting.
Some farmers have seen their tax bills double, while others have seen more modest increases. But many see inequity developing between urban and rural taxpayers.
“It’s a system that’s broken and it is a crisis,” said Dan Mazier, KAP president. “Guys can’t withstand $20 an acre increase in taxation.”
The 2016 provincial tax reassessment saw major increases in the assessment of farmland in many areas, reflecting the surging farmland values of recent years. Most other forms of land and property have not increased nearly as much.
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That has the effect of shifting the relative tax burden from non-agricultural land to farmland.
But it’s not a uniform shift.
“It’s so variable,” said Mazier, noting that some farmers have seen their municipal and education taxes increase only $1 per acre, while others in the same municipality have seen $10 per acre increases.
Some farmers have seen $20 per acre increases.
Across Manitoba. many farmers have been shocked by this year’s tax bills. That has sparked much angry discussion, with farmers in the rural municipality of Springfield threatening to conduct a tax strike, while others have threatened to boycott local village and town businesses that are getting a tax break because of the increased farmer share of the load.
“If that’s what it takes, it’s going to happen,” said Gerry Demare of Somerset about boycotting local businesses until they take the issue seriously.
Farmers debated the issue at the KAP policy meeting, with the organization arranging meetings with the provincial agriculture, finance and municipal government ministers.
KAP hopes to see farmland tax rates reduced to slow the shift from urban to rural. It also hopes to remove the $5,000 cap on education tax rebates for farmland.
Whatever the possible solution, Mazier said the sudden shift isn’t a reasonable development that the public can expect farmers to simply accept.
“I just couldn’t get over the rate of increase,” said Mazier. “Has this ever happened in any other industry or any other time in Manitoba’s history, that a ratepayer paid 50 or 90 percent more land taxes?”
