AmericasShipyards

Irving Shipbuilding hammers out tax reduction with local authorities

Montreal: Prominent Nova Scotia shipyard Irving Shipbuilding has negotiated a tax deal with the Halifax Regional Municipality to reduce its bills which have escalated dramatically in recent years, Canada’s CBC News has reported.

The deal has been worked on for about a year and involved Irving arguing that their taxes should be lower because their land has only one purpose. The company is based in Halifax, site of its main yard, and it also has three locations in the Maritime provinces including ones in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Irving’s taxes have soared over the past half-decade. Since 2011, the firm’s assessment has jumped from about $8 million to $56 million. The increase followed the shipyard’s $260 million taxpayer-backed modernisation, after which its assessed value jumped from $39 million to $56 million. Before the modernisation Irving was believed to be paying $1.3m in taxes.

The company and the municipality made the arrangement to avoid potentially costly litigation, although the deal is still provisional pending regional council approval.

Irving provides world-class shipbuilding and repair, drill rig construction and conversion, offshore fabrication, industrial manufacturing, engineering, supply chain management and quality and technical services. It has been building, repairing and refitting vessels for more than 50 years.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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