FATAL BLOW

Lethbridge: Tax hike dooms restaurants

When I heard that Halifax regional council is considering a tax increase, all I could think is: “Why don’t you kick ’em when they’re down?”

At the moment, council is looking at a 1.9 per cent increase for residential and commercial properties. Based on average assessments, that would mean $38 added to a residential tax bill and $817 for a commercial bill.

That would be just an extra $817 a local restaurant or bar happens to have sloshing around in its — you know — pandemic cash register. Right?

Just take a minute and think about the people who — right now — are trying to run restaurants. These are local folks, entrepreneurs who work day and night, now two lockdowns into a pandemic.

They are spending money on plexiglass — some are building outdoor dining bubbles — and they’re running at reduced capacity and hours.

They purchase special thermometers and take temperatures of guests, and have people assigned to take names and phone numbers of customers for contact-tracing purposes. They have to act as COVID police to enforce provincial restrictions or face steep fines.

They are worried sick that they will be the epicentre of a super-spreader event.

These people are trying to keep their employees working and their menus and supplies fresh. Most have no regular salaries, no pensions or benefits and a lot of them have invested everything they own into those businesses.

They are being gouged by third-party delivery services that are charging restaurants or customers an extra 25 or 30 per cent.

These small, independent businesses — the backbone of our economy — employ thousands of Nova Scotians. They make up the character and charm of Halifax (and towns across the province). They are part of what makes others want to come here and spend money in non-pandemic times.

These businesses are now drifting in life-rafts, floating around in the great unknown ocean of this virus, wondering when the next storm will hit, from which direction it will come, and how they will survive one more calamity.

Like health-care workers who are on the front lines of the medical system, they are on the front lines of the economy. They pay taxes and employ people who pay taxes to keep our health-care system going.

By the end of 2020, Nova Scotia bars and restaurants had lost 35 per cent of their sales and 12,000 jobs were gone, according to Restaurants Canada.

Now, take another minute and consider the discussion at Halifax regional council this week. These councillors are fairly well-paid people who have no fear of losing their jobs. They have pensions and benefits and they have the luxury of working from home and doing business via Zoom.

Yes, their job is tough and they work long hours. They have to find the money to run the city and their staff is recommending a spend of $827.2 million on operations and up to $230 million on capital projects.

But to even think about proposing a tax increase for these small businesses in their darkest hour?

To me, it sounds like the musings of people who have no concept of what these businesses are enduring — the stress, fear and desperation.

I return to that recurring theme of the “haves” and “have-nots” of this pandemic. No, Halifax councillors and restaurant owners are not all in it together.

COVID is hard on everyone and maybe we can’t expect all the haves — the ones with jobs, pensions, benefits and job security — to fully understand what the have-nots are going through. They are involved in their own challenges and stresses.

But when the haves are politicians who represent businesses in a city that benefits from those businesses? I would expect more from them, like maybe joining the effort to cap fees for delivery services.

But to consider raising the taxes of these downtrodden businesses? Now?

It’s tone-deaf. I hope they reconsider this ill-conceived plan.