Iqaluit places of worship won’t pay property taxes in 2026
City council sets tax rate for religious institutions at zero, but just for upcoming year
Churches in Iqaluit will have a property tax rate of zero next year as city councillors approved the 2026 mill rates. (File photo by Bill Williams)
Iqaluit’s churches and religious institutions will not have to pay property taxes next year.
The move comes as city council approved its annual mill rate bylaw for 2026 on Tuesday night at its regular council meeting. Mill rates establish how much a property should be taxed on its assessed value.
Iqaluit’s mill rates for 2026 are the same as they were in 2025 for residential, mixed use, commercial, institutional and industrial properties.
Places of worship are a new property class in the 2026 bylaw. Their tax rate is zero.
The bylaw passed all three readings Tuesday night. With all eight councillors plus Mayor Solomon Awa present, a unanimous motion allowed the bylaw to go from introduction to final approval in one meeting.
Tuesday’s meeting was city council’s last for 2025.
“This is actually a good news story,” said Coun. Simon Nattaq, while councillors were discussing the bylaw.
The change is not a full reversal of city council’s 2022 decision to no longer give churches and other religious institutions an automatic tax exemption.
The new bylaw’s rates are only applicable for 2026. That zero taxation rate for churches can be changed annually as council evaluates and approves mill rates in future years.
Coun. Kyle Sheppard, who chairs the city’s finance committee, said he’s “not opposed” to what council approved three years ago, but added a caveat.
“We made an error in how that was implemented at the time,” he told councillors, pointing to the financial “burden” it put on religious institutions, and on city staff dealing with issuing tax relief on a per-case basis.
“[The city’s administrative burden] was pretty substantial, on top of the administrative burden and financial burden on the organizations involved,” Sheppard said.
“I think it just makes sense for everybody to essentially walk that back by amending the actual mill rate right now and hopefully put the issue to rest for the time being.”
Before Tuesday, churches were taxed as “institutional” properties — the highest tax rate in the city, typically assigned to territorial government buildings.
Iqaluit’s Rev. Abraham Kublu recently expressed worry that the tax debt amassed by St. Jude’s Anglican Cathedral, where he preaches, would result in the closure of the city’s iconic igloo-shaped church.
The new mill rate for places of worship will have no impact on the city’s operational budget estimates for 2026, which forecast $28.2 million in tax revenue and a surplus of $2.3 million.
Those figures were approved with the new mill rates in mind, Sheppard said.
Booo. Pay your institutional tax, religious institution.
“We made an error in how that was implemented at the time,” he told councillors, pointing to the financial “burden” it put on religious institutions.
Emphasis on “institutions”. Religious institutions getting no property tax is lost opportunity cost for those that don’t practice religion. You are discriminating against atheists by subsidizing religion. This is a major failure of city council.
If you want to practice religion, pay for it yourself.
Perhaps this tax needs to be reframed. Call it a pollution tax for the toxic waste these institutions have poured into people’s minds for centuries. The social liabilities and costs are real and we know it.
Iqaluit’s atheists really need to get over themselves.
This is irony at its finest. Small minds and spiteful to boot? It is not spiteful to expect that those who choose (yes, it is a choice) to practice religion to pay for it themselves. The land that the religious institutions sit on is City of Iqaluit land that is subject to property taxation. Forgiveness or exemption of property taxes are effectively a subsidy to the practice of religion that is paid for by ratepayers. In a secular state such as Canada, people who choose not to practice religion should not be helping to foot the bill for those that do.
It is the religious people that should “get over themselves” and quit expecting those that don’t believe in the all-powerful-deity-in-the-sky to continue to help them pay for their share.
The funny thing about religious folk is those that say they are religious but respect people of different religions.
No you don’t. Maybe you’ve fooled yourself to think that you do, but deep down, you don’t.
If you’re Christian, you believe that Muslims pray five times a day for no reason. You believe they built mosques for no reason, and that they go every Friday for no reason. You can’t believe that and still respect someone for doing it.
If you’re Muslim, you believe that Christians pray to nobody. You believe they built churches for no reason, and that they go on Sundays for no reason. You can’t believe that and still respect someone for doing it.
Further, in Christianity and Islam it is a grave sin to believe in another god. The historical punishment for idolatry in Christianity is death. Islam says idolatry is unforgiveable and the punishment is eternal torture in hellfire.
I know you want to score some easy points here, but the relationship between Islam and Christianity is much more complex than what you’ve described.
This is good news and will allow us to reinstate essential community programs that had to be suspended when the finances had to be allocated to cover the unexpected property tax burden.
Thank you council members for moving forward with this change which we can only hope continues beyond 2026.
Sadly, the municipality will now have to cut back on their budget by the taxes lost.
How many churches is there in Iqaluit?
Too many.
I am not a religious person, however it is clear people need help and direction, whether is a belief in being a person, the bible koran etc..
For the most the intent is to provide for guiding ones life for the better according to their customs within those religious beliefs. So kudos to the folks that need that direction and for that I think city should provide tax relief and should have never taxed them as they provide guidance to better life style which in turn makes less burdensome peace officers role / less negative impact. This has not always been the case and still not always the case but I think the majority of the intent of the purpose is there. I think churches should be refunded for taxes paid.
There are good people / bad people, there are good cops / bad cops and there are good preachers / bad preachers .