Existing and future federally licensed
medical marijuana businesses won’t be getting a break on their property taxes.
The provincial government has excluded
medical marijuana businesses from its list of agricultural uses.
This means legal grow-ops won’t qualify
for farm classification for assessment and property tax purposes.
The provincial government made this
decision to ensure municipalities don’t lose property tax revenues.
Medical-marijuana production is allowed
as a farm use within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) by the BC government.
But, the BC Assessment Act, sec. 23,
specifies which farm uses qualify for farm classification for property tax
assessment purposes.
Farm classification typically lowers
the value of the land which:
• reduces property tax rates, and
• provides PST exemptions.
Wineries, farms, ranch tourism
operations and sand and gravel pits are excluded from farm classification.
Medical marijuana is a
federally-regulated narcotic produced by licensed operators.
There are five federally licensed
facilities in BC and the number is expected to increase in the coming years.
Source:
REBGV
