Taxes on your typical home almost $1,400 higher in Kamloops than Kelowna
It may be more expensive to buy a home in Kelowna than it is in Kamloops but the City of Kamloops has a much higher property tax rate.
That city charges $7.30 for every $1,000 of assessed value.
Kelowna only charges $5.30.
Those were the rates charged in 2021 – the most recent year on record. Property taxes for 2021 were based on the value of homes as calculated by B.C. Assessment Authority as of July 1, 2020.
At that time, the B.C. Real Estate Board pegged the average sale price for a home in B.C. at $748,155.
That means the owner of a house of that value in Kamloops paid $5,374 in property taxes, $1,379 more than the $3,995 paid in Kelowna.
West Kelowna had a slightly lower tax rate, but it still rounds up to $5.3, so taxes on an average home were $3,976.
In Penticton taxes were $4,495 ($6 per $1,000) and Vernon charged $4,779 ($6.4/$1,000).
The best rate in the Okanagan was Armstrong at $3.4 so taxes were only $2,565. The highest was Keremeos at $8.2 for taxes of $6,154.
Looking more broadly, Vancouver has one of the lowest rates in B.C. at $2.9, meaning taxes on a $748,155 home were only $2,185.
Granisle, in Northern B.C., had by far the highest rate in the province at a whopping $28.5 so taxes on the $748,155 house would be $21,358.
Of course, all things are relative.
The median value of a house in Granisle, according to B.C. Assessment data, was only $73,000 in 2020 compared to $2 million in Vancouver.
The tax rates are based on Government of B.C. figures that are published annually. Those rates are for municipal (including library), school, hospital, regional district and “other” taxes that give a total tax rate.
That varies from what a taxpayer actually shells out because it doesn’t include things like water, garbage collection and, in the Okanagan, the Sterile Insect Release program. The rates also don’t factor in the basic homeowner grant of $770.
READ MORE: BOOM TOWNS: All the new housing on the horizon in Okanagan, Kamloops
When it comes to business and industrial tax rates, Kamloops also charges significantly more than Kelowna.
The business rate in Kamloops is $19.3 per $1,000 of assessed value versus $12.8 in Kelowna.
For light industrial, Kamloops charged $25.3, almost twice Kelowna’s $13.3.
The biggest difference between the two cities is in heavy industrial where the 2021 rate in Kamloops of $73.3 is almost triple Kelowna’s $25.6.
Tax rates for Thompson-Okanagan communities.
• $3.4 – Armstrong
• $5.0 – Peachland
• $5.1 – Lake Country
• $5.3 – Kelowna
• $5.3 – West Kelowna
• $5.3 – Sun Peaks
• $5.3 – Summerland
• $5.6 – Osoyoos
• $5.8 – Logan Lake
• $5.8 – Oliver
• $6.0 – Penticton
• $6.3 – Spallumcheen
• $6.4 – Vernon
• $6.5 – Salmon Arm
• $7.0 – Enderby
• $7.2 – Kamloops
• $7.9 – Lumby
• $8.1 – Merritt
• $8.2 – Keremeos
Tax rates for select B.C. cities
• $2.9 – Vancouver
• $3.2 – Burnaby
• $3.4 – Surrey
• $4.9 – Abbotsford
• $5.1 – Victoria
• $5.2 – Chilliwack
• $7.2 – Nanaimo
• $10.0 – Prince George
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