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As a result of the move, only five employees from the large operation are losing their jobs. The rest are staying on since they are mostly field-type salespeople.

Right across the industrial cul-de-sac off of Barlow Trail in the far southeast of Calgary is Alberta Storage Place, owned and operated by John Milino, who revealed Thursday that his city business tax bill has ballooned by 100 per cent over five years, from $46,983 in 2015 to $93,596 for a property that uses virtually no city services.

Richard Truscott, vice-president of B.C. and Alberta for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says their office phones are ringing off the hook as Calgary business tax bills start arriving in the mail.

Many of those small businesses are seeing tax increases of an average of around 30 per cent in one year and they are upset, angry and, worst of all, worried about their survival.

“This issue is really striking a nerve with small business owners across the city,” said Truscott.

“We’re asking business owners to put their hands up and show us your bill and explain to Calgarians how impactful this is going to be. It’s not going to be pretty. We’re going to see a lot of businesses pushed to the edge or right over it.”

Maureen Macdonald, an agent with CMS Real Estate, says the city taxes owed on the 10,000-square-foot building she owns on 17th Avenue N.E., just one block from the iconic Peters’ Drive-In, went from $36,715.90 in 2018 to $64,083.15 — a 74.5 per cent increase in one year.