ARTS

composer, musician, vocalist, dancer
choreographer, filmmaker, director

a celebration of four decades of genius [
"Intensely-moving, dropdead gorgeous" Los Angeles Times
'The richness of vision of a truly great artist" New York Times

International Arts Initiatives
and Chan Centre at UBC
in association with
LIVE Biennial of Performance Art

CD

SATURDAY 12 SPM
NOVEMBER
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

Q.

ticketmasteng 604.2so.3311
Chan Centre Ticket Office (in person only)

mundomundo.com

3"

Taxes take toll on arts biz
> BY PIETA WOOLLEY
sk almost any owner of
a small Vancouver arts
business about property
taxes and wait for flames
to start shooting out of their
ears. The city's taxes are way too
high and it's killing the arts, is the
well-known chorus. Just a few examples:
The owners of the Ridge Theatre
can't renew their lease at the end
of December, due in part to the
$40,000-per-year property taxes.
Granville Book Company closed
in July after the owners were hit with
an extra $12,000 property-tax bill.
At Art Works Gallery, Deanna
Geisheimer is afraid her 19-year-old
business, with $1.2 million annually
in sales, will fold if property taxes
continue to climb.
"I'm paying $46,000 in property
taxes this year," she told the Georgia Straight at her Yaletown gallery.
"That's double in four years. My sales
have not doubled in four years."
The even scarier thing is, if Vancouver's mill rate and propertyvalue patterns continue, taxes could
more than double again by 2010.
Even Leonard Schein, spokesperson for the Fair Tax Coalition, understands that some businesses need
more immediate action than the coalition's proposal: a 20-year rebalancing of the business and residential tax
ratio. He offered a different solution.
"The city could have a rebate for
businesses under a certain size,"
the man who owns the Park and
Fifth Avenue movie theatres said.
"The property tax that I pay...is
disproportionately high to what it
should be."
There's no easy answer, though.
Even if the business mill rate (how
much tax a business has to pay per
year per $1,000 of assessed property;
in 2005, it's $29.40 per $1,000) were

to stay the same, property taxes could
still jump significantly by 2010.
For example, at Art Works,
Geisheimer pays one third of her
building's 2005 property taxes
of $152,857. Five years ago, the
whole building paid $60,130 (so
Geisheimer paid about $20,000).
Theoretically, in 2010, the building will pay $351,592 in property
taxes. In other words, Geisheimer's
annual tax bill will more than quadruple in 10 years, from approximately $20,000 to $117,200.
If the city reduces the mill rate by
one third (not likely; even with the
exploding value of property from
2000 to 2005, the mill rate still rose
by about $3 per $1,000), the Art
Works building's taxes would still
rise by $86,000, to $239,260.
That scares her. She can't afford
it. "I'm willing to support whatever
candidate will take on this issue," she
said. "I'm now at the stage when my
business is supposed to pay off. But
now I have to work harder than ever
to make ends meet."
It's not only Art Works's predicament. The Ridge complex's value
almost doubled from 2000 to 2005.
At Havana, Commercial Drive's combined restaurant, gallery, and theatre
space, the building's value has jumped
by a third since 2000. The Vogue's
value doubled since 2000. The Douglas Reynolds Gallery's building also
rose by a third.
If those numbers don't dazzle,
consider this: the Vogue, the
Varsity, Centre A, the Ridge, and
other long-time Vancouver arts
businesses have either moved or
closed or changed hands this fall
alone, due at least in part to property taxes.
The three big parties agree
that something needs to be done.
But what? This is what three Vancouver city council candidates
suggested:

o

Vision Vancouver
(family business and union background)

The problem: The cost of property
taxes is hurting small businesses.
The solution: Possibly add a new tax
class to separate out small business
and charge a different rate from bigger businesses. And the city can adjust
the business/residential tax ratio.
Memorable quote: "We don't have
a Fair Tax Coalition for residential,
which it [the off-loaded business taxes] would ultimately be poured onto."

*'EPT
Non-Partisan Association
(owns a small business, works at home)

The problem: Commercial and
residential tax classes are outdated and don't accommodate
the new realities of live/work and
telecommuting.
The solution: An overhaul of the entire property-tax system. The new system would also take into account the
role of a business in a community.
Memorable quote: "It's unfair, and
it's unfair because it's old."

Coalition of Progressive Electors
(owns a law practice)

The problem: Small and big businesses pay the same amount of tax
in Vancouver.
The solution: Separate the tax
classes, and offer small businesses a
much lower rate than big businesses.
Memorable quote: "Business thrives
when the environment is well looked
after, when arts and culture are well
looked after, when social services
are well provided for. Businesses decide where to locate based on education, culture, vibrant night life, and
whether it's a safe city." O

I by Francis Poulenc I

3

VANCOUVER

99B35EI

A drama of faith
and heroism,
in a modern
New York
production.

JAMES W.WRIGHT, GENERAL DIRECTOR

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L I V E
BIENNIAL

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PERFORMANCE

straight
ART

Vancouver Art Gallery presents

Meredith Monk Artist Talk

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moderated by Alex Varty of the Georgia Straight

Friday, November 11, 7pm
Ironworks 235 Alexander Street
Tickets at door or call 604 662 4717
$15 per person, $8 Gallery members, seniors, students

Vancouver
Artgallery

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NpVEMBER
DECEMBER

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26 & 29
1 & 3 , 2005

All performances 7:30 pm
I Queen Elizabeth Theatre
In French with English translations projected above the stage
V0 Ticket Centre 6 0 4 - 6 8 3 - 0 2 2 2
tickets not available through any other outlets

sponsored by

RAYMOND JAMES

www.vancouveropera.ca
Opera Speaks § VPL sponsor

"she is the uniquely gifted one" Philip Glass

$
C8C

68 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 10 - 177 2005

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SERmUStV WESTCOSST

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