Northern Light
Superstar
No Walter, you would not, why do you ask silly questions to which you know the answers?
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Mayor Olivia Chow's Toronto
- Thread starter DSC
- Start date
No Walter, you would not, why do you ask silly questions to which you know the answers?
W. K. Lis
Superstar
I see that already. The store's subsidize car users to use their pay parking lot for free, with a "minimum" purchase. Nothing for the rest of us. They are afraid if they were "free", the motorists would use the surrounding stores or restaurants if they use the store's parking lot, taking space away from customers.
There should be no "validations".
Northern Light
Superstar
Walter, please take the point.
Stop Spamming threads that are not about your peccadilloes.
I let you know something you wouldn't otherwise know, that should please you; the correct response was a 'like' or a thank you. Not endless droning.
picard102
Senior Member
Sounds like we'll see some deep cuts unless Ford is interested in playing ball. Which he might, just to push the idea that the NDP raise taxes.
allengeorge
Senior Member
That may be, but his electioneering image was one of holding the line on taxes, and excoriating her on it. I doubt he’ll vote for this - regardless of what he actually thinks.
allengeorge
Senior Member
You’re right that this isn’t ‘ideal’, in that the costs are also passed on to non-car users, and there is no incentive to change behavior. That said - let’s not make the perfect the enemy of the good.
I guarantee you that if you priced parking directly, business owners would freak out (see what happens anytime a bike lane or pedestrianization that takes away street parking is proposed). At least this way the city gets some revenue and parking lots aren’t effectively ‘free’ for the owners. It’s a start.
zang
Senior Member
Is there anything BIAs aren't opposed to?
zang
Senior Member
I think the province is quite fond of the "Toronto builds the kitty that we spread around the province"-model, so Toronto getting more revenue that they can't turn around and give to Marsville, ON to host a Sauerkraut festival that draws in 100 locals is gonna be frowned upon by Dougie and his crew. I have no problem with a municipal income tax, as long as there's a decent basic personal amount or a very top-heavy sliding scale. Toronto is already prohibitively expensive and unless our goal is to turn Toronto in Panem, we've gotta staunch the wounds causing low- and now middle- income workers to leave the city.
Metroscapes
Active Member
I seriously hope not, we don't need a repeat of Hydro One / 407. If anything, they should consider merging with Alectra Utilities (municipally owned and operating in multiple golden horseshoe munis).
afransen
Senior Member
Not sure the best place to put this, but David Hurle did a great interview with Jennifer Keesmaat, who has transitioned to the development industry after leaving public life. They discuss the greenbelt and issues blocking development, what needs to be done to provide more housing, homelessness, transit investment in capital vs service, King St pilot, road tolls, etc.
Worth a listen!
Worth a listen!
Northern Light
Superstar
I agree; the temptation is there because right now TO Hydro is investing in those big upgrades to its wires downtown, as such, its not paying out profit to the City and might even be a net cost in the short term.
The City is aware that Hydro will return to reliably profitable in the medium term; its a trade-off question.
But I favour keeping the asset public.
FastidiousHack
New Member
I have no problems with an increase in property taxes, or a municipal income tax, but only after we tax non-residents for driving in Toronto.
It seems so clear to me - aside from austerity, the infrastructure that Toronto provides is overused by people who don't contribute to it's cost. The Gardiner is just the largest example. Make driving prohibitively expensive for people who don't pay taxes to the city, force them to use the provincially funded transit. I guarantee that there would be a massive culture shift in this city away from the personal vehicle.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The province refuses to increase the subsidies it gives to Toronto...
From link.
New York City charges a 4.5% NYC Sales Tax and a 4% NY State Sales Tax. New York City charges a 10.375% tax and an additional 8% surtax on parking, garaging, or storing motor vehicles in Manhattan. NYC residents are exempt from the surtax.
Cities with the highest sales taxes
New York City charges a 4.5% NYC Sales Tax and a 4% NY State Sales Tax. New York City charges a 10.375% tax and an additional 8% surtax on parking, garaging, or storing motor vehicles in Manhattan. NYC residents are exempt from the surtax.
Cities with the highest sales taxes
- Tacoma, WA (10.3%)
- Chicago, IL (10.25%)
- Fremont, CA (10.25%)
- Long Beach, CA (10.25%)
- Oakland, CA (10.25%)
- Seattle, WA (10.25%)
- Birmingham, AL (10%)
- Baton Rouge, LA (9.95%)
- Memphis, TN (9.75%)
- St. Louis, MO (9.679%+)
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afransen
Senior Member
I'm not really a fan of municipal sales taxes, as it distorts retail behaviour between local jurisdictions. I'm fine with raising HST and disbursing the revenues to municipalities, but it should be done at the province-wide level.
zang
Senior Member
I agree, but it has to go hand-in-hand with improved transit and significant decreases in housing costs or it ends up punishing those who stand to benefit from its end result. I’m not so sure the city has ever tried doing a coordinated three-prong approach, and certainly doesn’t have the money to it on its own. The ignorance and/or spite of the governments higher up show a huge denial of Toronto’s importance to the economy of both the province and the country. Toronto is too big to fail in the economic sense, and maybe the money we use to subsidize corporations should be making its way to the people instead. The model is broken.
Ford is a lost cause, but pushing Jagmeet to put pressure on the Liberals is still a viable lever to pull.