{
  "id": "business-tax-ratio",
  "category": "City finances",
  "title": "Business tax rate compared with the residential rate, City of Victoria",
  "geography": "City of Victoria (municipality)",
  "scope": "city",
  "levels": [
    "City council (tax rates)"
  ],
  "plain_question": "For each dollar of assessed value, how many times the residential rate do businesses pay in City tax?",
  "value": 3.5,
  "display_value": "3.50",
  "unit": "times the residential rate (municipal tax)",
  "period": "Tax year 2025",
  "period_start": "2025-01-01",
  "period_end": "2025-12-31",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "Tax year 2024",
    "previous_value": 3.68,
    "change_percent": -4.8
  },
  "trend": "context",
  "trend_basis": "2025: Business and Other 11.8167 ÷ Residential 3.3749 = 3.50. 2024: 11.2419 ÷ 3.0569 = 3.68. 2021: 3.33.",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "Shown for context. How the tax is shared between businesses and homes is a council decision and a value judgement.",
  "since_text": "Municipal rates per $1,000 of assessment, 2025: residential $3.3749, business and other $11.8167.",
  "caveats": [
    "Calculated here: the City’s municipal tax rate for “Business and Other” divided by its rate for “Residential”, both from the Annual Report’s Property Tax Rates table (dollars per $1,000 of assessment).",
    "Municipal rates only. School, regional and hospital rates are set by other bodies.",
    "A ratio does not show who pays more in total: that depends on the total assessed value in each class.",
    "The City’s Financial Plan policy (Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, 2026, Schedule 5, Policy 2.0) aims to reduce the business to residential tax ratio to no more than 3.5 to 1 in 2025; 3.4 to 1 in 2026; 3.3 to 1 in 2027; 3.2 to 1 in 2028; 3.1 to 1 in 2029; 3.0 to 1 in 2030. The policy does not say whether it uses this same calculation, so no target label is shown."
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "Business rate ÷ residential rate, municipal tax",
      "fmt": "dec1",
      "unit": "times",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "City of Victoria",
          "area": "city",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 3.33
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 3.65
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 3.8
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 3.68
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 3.5
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Municipal tax rates, dollars per $1,000 of assessed value",
      "fmt": "dec2",
      "unit": "per $1,000",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "Residential",
          "area": "city",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 3.2209
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 2.8884
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 2.8109
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 3.0569
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 3.3749
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Business and other",
          "area": "city",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 10.7096
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 10.5323
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 10.6951
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 11.2419
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 11.8167
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2021",
      "value": 3.33
    },
    {
      "period": "2022",
      "value": 3.65
    },
    {
      "period": "2023",
      "value": 3.8
    },
    {
      "period": "2024",
      "value": 3.68
    },
    {
      "period": "2025",
      "value": 3.5
    }
  ],
  "derived_figures": [
    {
      "what": "Ratio 2021",
      "formula": "Business and Other rate ÷ Residential rate",
      "inputs": {
        "Business and Other": 10.7096,
        "Residential": 3.2209
      },
      "result": 3.33
    },
    {
      "what": "Ratio 2022",
      "formula": "Business and Other rate ÷ Residential rate",
      "inputs": {
        "Business and Other": 10.5323,
        "Residential": 2.8884
      },
      "result": 3.65
    },
    {
      "what": "Ratio 2023",
      "formula": "Business and Other rate ÷ Residential rate",
      "inputs": {
        "Business and Other": 10.6951,
        "Residential": 2.8109
      },
      "result": 3.8
    },
    {
      "what": "Ratio 2024",
      "formula": "Business and Other rate ÷ Residential rate",
      "inputs": {
        "Business and Other": 11.2419,
        "Residential": 3.0569
      },
      "result": 3.68
    },
    {
      "what": "Ratio 2025",
      "formula": "Business and Other rate ÷ Residential rate",
      "inputs": {
        "Business and Other": 11.8167,
        "Residential": 3.3749
      },
      "result": 3.5
    }
  ],
  "refresh_frequency": "Yearly (audited report published mid-year)",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-12T04:15:32Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City of Victoria, Annual Report 2025 (Property Tax Rates 2021 - 2025)",
    "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/annual-report-2025",
    "dataset_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/annual-report-2025",
    "download_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/annual-report-2025",
    "locator": "Annual Report 2025, Statistics section, Property Tax Rates 2021 - 2025, MUNICIPAL rows Residential and Business and Other",
    "publisher_page": "https://www.victoria.ca/city-government/corporate-strategic-plan/annual-report",
    "also": [
      {
        "name": "Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, 2026, Schedules 1 to 5",
        "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/4520"
      }
    ]
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution.",
    "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
    "open": false
  },
  "verified_text": [
    "MUNICIPAL ($ per 1000 assessment) Residential 3.2209 2.8884 2.8109 3.0569 3.3749",
    "Business and Other 10.7096 10.5323 10.6951 11.2419 11.8167",
    "Policy 2.0 To reduce the business to residential tax ratio to no more than: 3.5 to 1 in 2025 3.4 to 1 in 2026 3.3 to 1 in 2027 3.2 to 1 in 2028 3.1 to 1 in 2029 3.0 to 1 in 2030"
  ],
  "data_published": "2026-07-17",
  "attribution": "Source: City of Victoria, Annual Report 2025 (Property Tax Rates 2021 - 2025). Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.",
  "licence_type": "public",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "context",
  "better_measure": null,
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "How the tax is shared between businesses and homes is a council decision and a value judgement.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": {
      "period": "Tax year 2024",
      "value": 3.68,
      "text": "vs Tax year 2024: -4.8%"
    },
    "five_year": null
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "context",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "steady",
    "label": "Steady this year. Rising over 4 years.",
    "arrow": "▼",
    "rel": -4.8,
    "delta": null,
    "vs": "Tax year 2024",
    "cur": "Tax year 2025",
    "why": "The change is 4.8% of the earlier value, below the 5% threshold. Over 4 years (since 2021) the change is 5.1% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold, so the label also says Rising over 4 years.",
    "change": "4.8%",
    "one_year": "−4.8%",
    "five": {
      "period": "2021",
      "comparable": true,
      "rel": 5.105105105105103,
      "years": 4,
      "longest": true,
      "text": "+5.1%"
    },
    "label_one_year": "Steady",
    "long_key": "rising",
    "long_label": "Rising over 4 years"
  },
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "COV",
      "name": "City of Victoria Council",
      "decides": "Adopts the financial plan by bylaw each year, then sets property tax rates by bylaw before May 15.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "cc165",
          "label": "Community Charter, s. 165",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_06#section165"
        },
        {
          "key": "cc197",
          "label": "Community Charter, s. 197",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_07#section197"
        }
      ],
      "last": {
        "text": "Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, 2026 (No. 26-040) and 2026 tax rates adopted May 7, 2026",
        "label": "Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, 2026 (No. 26-040) and 2026 tax rates adopted May 7, 2026",
        "url": "https://engage.victoria.ca/2026budget"
      },
      "next": {
        "text": "2027 financial plan, then tax rate bylaw before May 15, 2027",
        "label": "Community Charter, s. 197",
        "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_07#section197"
      }
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "City of Victoria Council"
}