City councillors spent Wednesday discussing proposed transit taxes which are being considered as a means to fund a massive transit expansion in the Greater Toronto Area.
The tools are being proposed as a way of helping to fund the $50 billion Metrolinx transit expansion, nicknamed the “Big Move.”
Coun. Mike Del Grande lashed out against council Wednesday evening, accusing some members of “drinking the Kool-Aid” and not calling the revenue tools by their correct name.
“When you’re talking about revenue tools… I don’t think that’s an adult conversation… they’re taxes,” he said.
Del Grande said he felt very sorry for the residents of Scarborough, including his own ward of Scarborough-Agincourt, who were taking transit for up to three hours a day and “the only answer they get is ‘tax more.’”
The discussion over the 11 proposed revenue tools kicked off Wednesday, after council voted Tuesday in favour of adding the item to the May 7- 8 agendas, overruling Mayor Rob Ford’s executive committee who had previously scheduled it for May 28. The city will now be able to weigh in on Metrolinx’s plans ahead of the agency’s presentation to the province, set for May 27.
A staff report tabled last month urged councillors to voice support for four of the proposed revenue-generating tools: development charges and a dedicated sales tax, fuel tax and parking space levy.
The report said that high occupancy toll lanes, highway tolls and a dedicated vehicle registration tax should be supported by city staff after the first phase of the transit expansion is complete.
Other proposed funding tools including a congestion levy, a transit fare increase, a utility bill levy, an employer payroll tax and an income tax were dismissed by the report.
Coun. Gord Perks told CP24 Wednesday morning that despite the mayor’s objections to a tax, he believes most residents understand that they’re necessary in order to build transit.
“I know the mayor thinks we can pay for transit with money that grows on trees or something, but most adults in Toronto understand that if we want to build a bigger transit system we are going to have to collect more taxes,” he said. “I favour progressive taxes like income tax and corporate tax, so the wealthy pay more than your regular working guy while other people want to put tax on cars through gasoline and parking taxes. We will see how it goes.”
Coun. Doug Ford, the mayor’s brother, told CP24 he has hesitations over generating more tax revenues that may be spent irresponsibly.
"We are debating whether we should go hand over a blank cheque to an irresponsible government that has cost us billions of dollars through boondoggle after boondoggle," he said. "They’ll flush it down the toilet."
With files from CP24
