The provincial government is considering removing the tax exemption on commercial cannabis growing facilities and introducing longer-term capital contribution plans for cities, Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu said Thursday.
The part of a producer’s facility dedicated to growing cannabis is currently taxed at a rate for agriculture land, which is zero in rural municipalities or counties or 20 per cent of the going rate in urban municipalities.
Addressing as many as 500 municipal leaders at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) convention in Edmonton, Madu and four of his colleagues in cabinet were met warmly as he announced these and other potential changes to the provincial-municipal relationship.
“Where we have cannabis growing facilities, there are a lot of pressures and municipal services,” Madu told Postmedia on Thursday, noting that no decisions have been made. “We are looking to make sure that they are able to pay their due share of tax.”
Over the summer, the UCP passed legislation to allow municipalities the power to determine company-specific or sector-specific tax exemptions for up to 15 years, instead of year-to-year as it had been previously.
Read more at edmontonjournal.com