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this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Toronto
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Sales tax uniformly applies to everyone by the same absolute amount but relatively affects poorer people more. The city should just raise property taxes instead. May help reduce the housing cost as well which would make the city more affordable.
Solely relying on property tax increases isn't sustainable. The city is considering increases here too, but it needs further revenues. Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie stated,
Along with further revenue tools, she feels the city needs more direct funding from both the province and the feds.
Yeah but it is literally the biggest thing we should do as mentioned by the report that would address almost 40% of the problem. I'm not sure why are we are debating that we shouldn't do this considering that property tax rates are 3x lower in GTA than everywhere else in Ontario, and that it fixes a large part of the problem.
Basically, before we take the initial, and most impactful step that is uncomfortable but necessary, we are proposing future things to do that is less painful sounding but doesn't have clear returns. We all know why: people don't want to pay more and want to make it someone else's problem instead. Even the report acknowledges this political challenge. This conversation is basically the evidence for that.
I'm not sure why you see it as either/or. They are speaking of the need to not only raise property taxes, but also to implement new revenue measures. The article gave a link to where this is all outlined: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2023/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-238626.pdf