Movie theater and parking lot owners are frustrated with the city of Vancouver’s decision to tax customers.
“It’s hard enough to get people to go to the movies right now,” Kiggins Theatre owner Dan Wyatt said.
In addition to slashing departments’ proposed spending, the city passed five new taxes Nov. 18 in an effort to address a $43 million deficit in the 2025-26 budget. Most of the taxes start in 2025, while others begin in 2026.
‘Going to hurt everybody’
Starting Jan. 1, moviegoers will pay a 5 percent admissions tax on theater tickets and subscriptions in Vancouver. That’s 75 cents on a $15 ticket.
Theaters with fewer than two screens are exempt, meaning the one-screen Kiggins Theatre, the only locally owned theater in Vancouver, won’t have to increase ticket prices immediately.
Wyatt said he is still upset on behalf of other theaters. Many theaters fell into financial ruin during the pandemic when COVID-19 precautions closed them and later limited capacity, he said.
“Everyone got in the habit of staying home and watching movies on their streaming services. So kick us while we’re down, why don’t you?” he said. “This is going to hurt everybody, and we don’t need to hurt any movie theaters any more.”
The tax may apply to him soon because he plans to install a second screen, he said. He doesn’t foresee Kiggins being around much longer without more than one screen.
“It’s really a necessity,” Wyatt said. “Kiggins Theatre is already skirting the edge. A better business person would not continue to do this because the profitability is not there … but I grew up going to Kiggins.”
Expensive parking
Commercial short-term parking will cost more starting January 2026. The council adopted a tax of 15 cents per transaction for parking in lots and garages and 20 cents for parking on streets. The tax will increase by 2 cents per transaction annually.
Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, which owns the new parking garage at The Waterfront Vancouver, feels blindsided by the tax.
“The city watched us over the last few years plan and design and build this garage without one mention of a potential additional tax,” Cain said. “It is not fair at all, and it is wrong.”
Construction began on the building in 2023. The city first began considering a commercial parking tax in June of this year.
People already complain that the parking garage — where it’s $2.50 per hour to park plus sales tax — charges too much. But that amount barely covers the debt it took to build the $53 million project, he said.
“It’ll reduce our income for sure. You depend on being able to increase the rates a little bit, but now that will be impossible because it’ll be the city increasing rates all the time,” Cain said.
He believes he’ll lose customers, and the tax will dissuade people from coming to the waterfront.
“The waterfront has been a boon for this city, but you can mess up a good thing,” he said. “If you make it too expensive to come here, people will stop coming. It won’t be as successful as it is now. The little that they collect off of this tax, they will lose other ways.”
