Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) are the result of provincial legislation (Section 217 of the Municipal Act) aimed at compelling business people within an arbitrarily-selected area to join a "business association." As "members" of this forced "association," they are also forced to pay an additional tax to the municipality - largely to do things that their property and business taxes should already be paying for.
Ostensibly, the BIA tax can also be used to
"improve" and maintain the appearance of municipally owned property within the designated BIA area,
and for collective advertising to promote the area. Of
course, the BIA tax widens the municipality's tax base
by adding it to already existing property and business
taxes.
At the heart of the issue lies the principle that is at the heart of every BIA controversy: freedom of association. Since BIA "members" cannot independently and voluntarily join or quit a BIA, they are therefore subject to forced association, where independent planning and action becomes superceded by forced collective planning and action.
A BIA operates very much like a labour union, being a body that requires a large consensus before it can be "decertified" or defeated in initial formation stages. Like a union, "dues" are compulsory and the compulsory BIA tax is fully enforced by law. And in the same way that an individual worker would have to quit his job to avoid compulsory dues, so too must the individual businessman be forced to leave his business community to avoid the extra compulsory tax for that area.
Like unions, many BIAs adopt political platforms, supporting or opposing various political issues - all the while claiming to "represent" the BIA "membership."
Last but not least, BIAs as legislated under Section 217 of the Municipal Act deny the right to vote to those being taxed. In other words, BIAs are blatant forms of taxation without representation.
As one may well guess, the magnitude of the effect BIAs have on Ontario's economy and business climate are far greater than most would imagine. Documentation and press reports of BIA disasters which include runaway taxes, misappropriation of funds, lack of accountability for funds, outbreaks of animosity within a business community where none existed before the BIA, incidents of fraud, misrepresentation, and more, fill an entire filing cabinet at Freedom Party headquarters.
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last updated on April 28, 2002
