The purpose of the CANMAC report is to document the economic impacts of the proposed replacement of the business occupancy assessment tax (BOAT). The study was completed on behalf of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations (SNSMR) and the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities (UNSM).

The approach taken by Canmac Economics Ltd. (simply referred to as CANMAC herein) involves:

• Estimating changes in commercial property taxes with the elimination of the BOAT.
• Estimating economic impacts from the change in commercial property taxes.
• Assumes no economic growth.
• Assumes that the government and municipalities will not be taking any mitigating or negating measures to offset the increased commercial tax rates.
• Assumes the collection of $8 million from the federal government (which does not pay BOAT) but does not assume full collection of the uncollected BOAT, which is $3 million a year.

The economic impacts are estimated using an Input-Output (IO) Model developed by Canmac which is similar to IO Models used by the Nova Scotia Department of Finance.

CANMAC's final conclusion was: "Overall, we find that the impact of the replacement of the Business Occupancy tax is marginally positive for the total provincial economy. However there are important differences among economic sectors and municipal units. Even at this level we find that the economic consequences are negligible."

Economic Impact Study Report (2.5MB)

The Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities and the Province of Nova Scotia are proposing to eliminate the business occupancy assessment and taxation (BOT). A series of consultation sessions were held during the summer of 2004 to ensure that businesses and municipalities understood how they could be impacted by BOT’s elimination.

These sessions were held as follows:

• Truro June 29, Best Western Glengarry Hotel
• Greenwich, Kings. Co. June 30, Old Orchard Inn
• Yarmouth July 5, Rodd Grand Hotel
• Sydney July 8, Delta Sydney
• Halifax July 13, Lord Nelson Hotel
• Antigonish July 20, Claymore Inn
• Bridgewater July 27, Municipality of Lunenburg Council Chamber

Discussion paper(pdf) and Business Occupancy Taxes Consultation Presentation (200kb)

The following is a summation of the comments and concerns from these sessions, as well as the future direction of the elimination of the BOAT, where:

Public consultation on the elimination of the business occpancy assessment tax: Summer 2004(75kb)

Your written response can be submitted three ways
 

E-mail	Fax	Mail
E-mail: busocc@gov.ns.ca	Business Occupancy Assessment and  Taxation Review (902)424-0821	Business Occupancy Assessment and Taxation Review c/o Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations P.O. Box 216 Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2M4