CHILLIWACK (NEWS1130) – Do you want to save a fortune on your taxes? Invest in some llamas!

Chilliwack’s mayor says there’s a bizarre tax loophole involving the animals in her city and she wants to see it closed.

“There is a property that is completely graveled and is industrial land in an industrial park, and the owner has found a trick,” Sharon Gaetz tells News1130.

“The owner put llamas on the property for a month. He did it when BC Assessment came to assess his property.”

Gaetz claims the business owner paid roughly $170,000 in taxes on the property when it was classified as industrial land in 2011. She says that number fell to less than $3,000 in 2012 because of the “llama loophole.”

“That’s 1.5 per cent of what he paid the year before,” points out Gaetz.

“It’s still industrial land, but he found a loophole. So what we’re asking the government to do is close that loophole and give BC Assessment the ability to actually respect local government zoning.”

She will be raising the issue at the Union of BC Municipalities convention later this month.