Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jun 2014
Source: Richmond News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.richmond-news.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244
Author: Kelly Sinoski

FARM TAX STATUS CUT FOR POT GROWERS

Commercial medical marijuana operators in B.C. will not be allowed to 
claim farm tax status after the provincial government created a new 
business classification for the federally licensed facilities.

The new classification is in response to a Health Canada law that 
came into effect in April that regulates new commercial facilities 
that produce, process and distribute medical marijuana and prohibits 
production in residential homes.

Coralee Oakes, minister for community, sport and development, said 
the province designed a new business class after B.C. municipalities 
complained they could lose significant tax dollars under the scheme 
while having to pay more for increased regulation of the facilities.

The concerns arose after BC Assessment ruled that licensed commercial 
medical marijuana production could receive farm tax status even if it 
wasn't located on agricultural land.

If they were allowed to get farm tax status, a medical marijuana 
producer operating out of a $2.1-million, 25,000-square foot 
warehouse on a one-acre industrial property in Richmond, for example, 
would pay just $395 in annual taxes - 99 per cent less than the 
$33,100 a comparable business would have to shell out.

Richmond Coun. Harold Steves, who sits on Metro's regional planning 
and agriculture committee, welcomed the move Tuesday, saying he had 
been worried a precedent would be set, with people growing St. John's 
Wort or other herbal medicines seeking farm-class tax status. Metro 
had planned to take the issue to the Union of B.C. Municipalities this fall.

"What we wanted to do was to make sure that if medical marijuana went 
onto industrial land they paid the full tax," he said. "This is an 
important move. When you have to provide extra services for a 
business, it really hurts when they pay less taxes."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom