Residential property owners in Vancouver could be hit with a tax increase of 8.6 per cent in the coming year, more than double the increase approved by city council just last month.

The proposed increase is the result of a shift of up to two per cent of taxes from business to residential property owners, a move recommended this year by the city's Property Tax Policy Review Commission.

The city's director of finance is sending those recommendations to council on Thursday.

The city has been grappling for years with the fact that property tax rates for businesses have been increasing far faster than the rate for homeowners. Businesses now pay roughly six times what residential property owners pay.

If council approves the recommendation, business owners would get a break, with their taxes going up just .2 per cent.

Mark Startup of Retail B.C., who speaks for many small businesses, applauded the move, saying it was time for a "sensible decision to bring fairness and equity to taxation in the City of Vancouver."

The shift is the price that has to be paid to make up for years of inequity for his membership, Startup said.

"If the first step results in a fairly large increase for one class of taxpayer and a modest increase for another, then we feel that is a step in the right direction."

When council votes on Thursday, it will also have the option of shifting just one per cent of the taxes. That would mean a tax increase for homeowners of 6.3 per cent, still well above what council promised in March.

Last October, the chair of the city's finance committee, Coun. Peter Ladner, said he hoped to keep property tax increases to around four per cent.