Apartments owners in the province want the provincial government to eliminate the double property taxes put on apartment buildings in New Brunswick.
Non-owner occupied properties in New Brunswick are taxed by both the province and the municipality.
New Brunswick Apartment Owners Association president Willy Scholten says this problem has been in place for decades and this is creating a situation where landlords have property taxes as the single biggest determining factor in the rent.
“The people that are renting and are paying this tax are the people that can afford the overtaxation the least,” says Scholten.
“It just doesn’t make sense when you put the right policies in place to make sure that it gets back to the tenants.”
The group says if the province does this, in return, landlords will freeze rents for three years which they claim will save the average renter about $1800 over that time.
“We’re crunched the numbers, worked with CMHC statistics and determined that the savings of three-year rent increases will offset the amount of taxes, this double-taxation that landlords are paying,” says Scholton.
