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220 (1) Unless otherwise provided in this Act or the Local Government Act, the following property is exempt from taxation to the extent indicated:

  • (a) land, improvements or both vested in or held by the Provincial government;
  • (b) land, improvements or both vested in or held by
    • (i) the municipality, or
    • (ii) the municipality jointly with another municipality or a regional district;
  • (c) land, improvements or both exempt from municipal taxation by another Act;
  • (d) land, improvements or both
    • (i) of a public library under the Library Act, or
    • (ii) vested in or held by a municipality and occupied by a public library under the Library Act;
  • (e) land, improvements or both of an Indian, in a municipality incorporated under section 9(1) of the Local Government Act, who is an owner under the letters patent, except for taxation under section 197(1)(a);
  • (f) land, improvements or both in a municipality, other than a municipality incorporated under section 9(1) of the Local Government Act, that
    • (i) are held in trust by the Crown for a band of Indians, and
    • (ii) are not leased to or occupied by a person who is not a member of the band;
  • (g) the land actually used and occupied for the interment of the dead or in respect of which a certificate of public interest under the Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act has been issued by the director under that Act, together with the improvements included as part of the cemetery, mausoleum or columbarium under that Act, other than
    • (i) premises used for the provision of funeral services within the meaning of that Act except any part of those premises used for the provision of bereavement rites and ceremonies,
    • (ii) crematoriums within the meaning of that Act, and
    • (iii) premises, or that part of premises, used primarily for the sale of cemetery services or funeral services within the meaning of that Act;
  • (h) a building set apart for public worship, and the land on which the building stands, if title to the land is registered in the name of
    • (i) the religious organization using the building,
    • (ii) trustees for the use of that organization, or
    • (iii) a religious organization granting a lease of the building and land to be used solely for public worship;
  • (i) a building that was constructed or reconstructed with the assistance of aid granted by the Provincial government after January 1, 1947 but before April 1, 1974 and that is owned and used exclusively without profit by a corporation to provide homes for elderly citizens, together with the land on which the building stands;
  • (j) a building set apart and used solely as a hospital under the Hospital Act, except a private hospital under that Act, together with the land on which the building stands;
  • (k) land and improvements for future hospital requirements that are
    • (i) designated for the purposes of this section by the minister responsible for the Hospital Act, and
    • (ii) vested in, or held by, a society or corporation that is not operated for profit and that has as an object the operation of a hospital;
  • (l) a building owned by an incorporated institution of learning that is regularly giving children instruction accepted as equivalent to that given in a public school, and that is actually occupied and wholly in use by the incorporated institution for the purpose of giving the instruction, together with
    • (i) the land on which the building stands, and
    • (ii) an area of the land surrounding the land referred to in subparagraph (i) or improvements on the area of land, or both, that are owned by the incorporated institution and that are reasonably necessary for the purposes of the incorporated institution, including, without limiting this, the following areas of land and improvements:
      • (A) playing fields, athletic grounds and facilities, playgrounds and improvements related to any of them;
      • (B) storage, maintenance and administrative facilities;
      • (C) dormitories for students;
      • (D) parking lots, walkways and roads;
  • (m) fruit trees;
  • (n) improvements, other than dwellings and the fixtures, machinery and similar things mentioned in paragraph (o), erected on farm land and used exclusively to operate a farm, up to but not exceeding the greater of the following:;
    • (i) 87.5% of the assessed value;
    • (ii) an assessed value of $50,000;
  • (o) fixtures, machinery and similar things located on farm land and used exclusively to operate the farm that, if erected or placed, in or on land, a building or fixture or structure in or on it, would, as between landlord and tenant, be removable by the tenant;
  • (p) an improvement designed, constructed or installed to provide emergency protection for persons or domestic animals in the event of a disaster or emergency within the meaning of the Emergency Program Act;
  • (q) sewage treatment plants, manure storage facilities, effluent reservoirs, effluent lagoons, deodorizing equipment, dust and particulate matter eliminating equipment;
  • (r) a floating dry dock, other than the onshore facilities of the floating dry dock, if the floating dry dock has a lift capacity greater than 20,000 tonnes.
  • (2) Septic disposal systems are not exempt from taxation under subsection (1)(q).
  • (3) An exemption under subsection (1)(b) to (p) does not include exemption from a fee.
  • (4) An exemption under subsection (1)(b), (d), (g), (h), (i) or (l) extends only to taxation under section 197(1)(a).

2003-26-220, effective January 1, 2004 (B.C. Reg. 423/2003); 2003-52-41(b), effective December 31, 2003 for the purposes of the 2004 and subsequent taxation years; 2004-35-82, effective July 4, 2004 (B.C. Reg. 274/2004); 2011-2-3, effective September 1, 2012 (B.C. Reg. 138/2012); RS 2015-1-RevSch; 2015-31-1.

CASE LAW

Exemption of One Interest Holder in a Parcel of Land Does Not Extend to All Interest Holders

The City of Coquitlam purchased land owned by Double Kappa Holdings Ltd. and designated the property as parkland under the Official Community Plan. Construction of the park was completed prior to the closing date, final payment, and transfer of title. The B.C. Assessment Authority determined that applicability of s. 220(1)(b) of the Community Charter was limited to fee simple interests, that prior to closing and transfer of title the City held only a contingent interest in the property, and that the s. 220 exemption did not apply for the 2018 taxation year. The City appealed by way of stated case on two questions: (1) whether the assessment authority erred in law in deciding that the property was not “vested in or held by” the City for purposes of s. 220(1)(b); and, if so, (2) whether the property was nonetheless subject to taxation for the 2018 taxation year, given the ownership interest of Double Kappa. The judge answered “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second. The respondent appealed. In allowing the appeal, the appellate court said the first question was answered correctly: the interest created by the purchase agreement was “vested in or held by” the municipality within the meaning of the statute, and therefore the exemption applied to the municipal interest. The second question was answered incorrectly. The law of real property is built on recognition of the multiplicity of alienable interests with respect to one physical parcel of land. Section 220 speaks to interests in land, not merely the physical parcel. Here, case law arising in the Crown exemption context demonstrates that the existence of an exempt interest does not serve to provide parallel exemptions to other interest holders. Accordingly, Double Kappa could not “piggyback” on the City’s exemption (Coquitlam (City) v. British Columbia (Assessor of Area #10—North Fraser Region), 2022 BCCA 183).

Municipality’s Tax Exemption Does Not Provide Exemptions to Other Interest Holders

In Coquitlam (City) v. British Columbia (Assessor of Area #10–North Fraser Region), 2022 BCCA 183, the assessor brought a stated case appeal from an order of the British Columbia Supreme Court. The court considered two questions relating to the Community Charter provision exempting land “vested in or held by” municipalities from taxation.

At the tax assessment date, the respondent municipality had a registered interest in certain property pursuant to an Agreement for Sale of property, legal title to which was in the name of the respondent corporation. The municipality contended that both its interest and the corporation’s interest were tax-exempt. The Property Assessment Appeal Board of B.C. found that the municipality’s interest was not exempt and therefore it did not need to address the corporation’s interest.

On appeal, the Supreme Court held that the statutory exemption applied to the municipality’s interest, and that the corporation’s interest was tax-exempt because the municipal exemption applied to the physical property, leaving nothing in the hands of the corporation to be taxed.

The Court of Appeal allowed the assessor’s stated case appeal. On the first question of the stated case, the court held that the interest created by the Agreement for Sale was “vested in or held by” the municipality within the meaning of the statute, and therefore the exemption applied to the municipal interest. On the second question, the court held that the statutory provision speaks to interests in land, not merely the physical parcel. Case law arising in the Crown exemption context establishes that the existence of an exempt interest does not serve to provide parallel exemptions to other interest holders. Accordingly, the corporation’s interest cannot gain the exemption through piggybacking onto the municipal exemption.