Victoria, July 02, 2026 – As the deadline arrives for most in the province to pay their local property taxes, small businesses in B.C. cities say the cost of their local government is a top issue. According to a survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), 62 percent of B.C. businesses identified local government costs as a concern, ranking third behind the total tax burden (81%) and government debt & deficit (63%).
“Small businesses have faced near double-digit tax increases year after year. The message is clear: local governments have a spending problem, not a revenue problem,” said Ryan Mitton, B.C. Director of Legislative Affairs for CFIB. “B.C. is facing an entrepreneurial drought, with more businesses closing than opening over the last four consecutive quarters. Candidates running for office this fall need to commit to holding the line on property taxes and spending, keeping them at or below inflation.”
Victoria, Kelowna, and Prince George topped the list of most concerned cities, with nearly three quarters of all businesses upset about the cost of local government.
Vancouver, which recently passed a “Zero Means Zero” property tax freeze, ranked the lowest and was the only local government to see a decline in cost concerns since 2022, when civic elections were last held.
Kamloops saw the largest increase in local government cost concerns, rising 42 points to 59 percent, followed by Kelowna, which rose 35 points to 76 percent.
Cities & regions ranked worst to best on the cost of city hall
|
Rank |
City/Region |
Last year |
Change Since 2022 |
|
1 |
Victoria |
77% |
15% |
|
2 |
Kelowna |
76% |
35% |
|
3 |
Prince George |
74% |
15% |
|
4 |
Cranbrook |
72% |
6% |
|
5 |
Greater Vancouver |
68% |
10% |
|
6 |
Abbotsford-Mission |
67% |
8% |
|
7 |
Kamloops |
59% |
42% |
|
8 |
Saanich |
57% |
3% |
|
9 |
Nanaimo |
55% |
14% |
|
10 |
Chilliwack |
55% |
13% |
|
11 |
Vancouver |
49% |
-13% |
CFIB is calling on all councils and candidates to commit to controlling local government spending, curbing tax increases, and address B.C.’s entrepreneurial drought. More information about the drought and CFIB’s proposed solutions can be found at cfib.ca/drought.
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For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Kalith Nanayakkara, Senior Policy Analyst, CFIB
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 103,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca .
About Our Members’ Opinions Survey
The OMO survey is conducted in person by District Managers during member renewals with participants from all sectors and provinces. Members can vote on the OMO question through an app on an iPad, and each member can respond only once per year. Survey data is based on 1,834 responses from Q3 2025-Q2 2026, compared to 1,937 responses from Q1-Q4 2022, resulting in a margin of error between approximately 2.23%-2.29% at a 95% confidence level.