City tax policy revised for non-profit groups

Prince George City Council held a lunch time meeting on Friday to go over tax policy changes for non profit groups.

Some thrift stores will soon be able to apply for tax exempt status.

But the language in the policy made Councillor Jillian Merrick “uncomfortable”, as it excluded non-profits that are in competition with regular business.

“That opens the door for really almost any social enterprise to be challenged, there is no enterprise in Prince George that doesn’t have competition. Everything has competition and I think we’ve narrowly defined what competition is, but I think we will find that might be challenged.”

Thrift stores in particular were debated because some, like Value Village, are run for profit.

“We are resting on the good faith of the businesses of Prince George to not challenge non profits that they feel are in competition with them and I think that’s a risky thing to do. It puts the City in a bad position and businesses in a bad position and non-profits in a bad position.” Merrick said

But Mayor Lyn Hall says he believes most people can tell the difference between the St Vincent de Paul Society’s thrift store and Value Village.

“It’s a living document, we can go back to this document at any time if we think we need to restructure something or alter it in some way.”

City staff says they followed the lead of other communities like Kelowna and Kamloops who haven’t had any issues with similar language in their tax code.

The revised permissive tax exemption policy eventually passed un-amended, with Merrick opposed and Councillors Krause, Everitt and Skakun absent.