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Emphasizing the LOL. I think however this is implemented Ports Toronto, owner/operator of Billy Bishop, is going to find a way to dodge it.
The existing method of payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) is already formed as a per passenger charge to Ports Toronto. It seems like a nightmare for the City of Toronto to squeeze out this quasi-property-tax from provincial and federal organizations in the city, like Canada Post or Ports Toronto.

Frustrating further reading on the topic:
2015 agreement
2022 CoT report

Nieuport was talking to the folks at the City this morning...........
 
Nominations opened today for the Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest by-election. Election day is Thursday, November 30.

As of 4 pm, three candidates have registered.

Kandavel, Parthi (2022 candidate)
Roy, Suman (2018 candidate)
Rupasinghe, Kevin (2022 candidate)

 
Nominations opened today for the Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest by-election. Election day is Thursday, November 30.

As of 4 pm, three candidates have registered.

Kandavel, Parthi (2022 candidate)
Roy, Suman (2018 candidate)
Rupasinghe, Kevin (2022 candidate)


I don't get a vote; as I'm in the ward next door; but, I unabashedly support Kevin here.
 
I don't get a vote; as I'm in the ward next door; but, I unabashedly support Kevin here.

I live in the ward. He is also getting my vote.

I know Parthi from previous dealings however he is too self-serving for my liking.

I'm afraid I didn't follow the Scarborough Southwest by-election very closely last election. From what I know about the candidates, I would be leaning towards Kevin if I could vote in the ward.
 
I think Kevin is best too, but comes off a bit inexperienced and sometimes negative on twitter. I hope he emulates the positivity and grace of Chow this election... may increase his odds
 
Ultimately the Financial Plan passed with a reasonable margin of safety.

Exploring the Lottery, the higher fees for delayed construction and graduated property tax rates (high value properties pay more) all passed; as did the idea of the Billy Bishop fee.

To be clear the above are all 'explore the feasibility of' type requests not implementation.
These revenue tools are too small, a thousand cuts that do not solve the issue.

We need to toll the DVP and Gardiner. We need a municipal sales tax, hotel tax and sports/event tax, parking lot tax, and a property tax increase.

One worry I have is that the TPS will see the $$$ and demand a budget increase.
 
These revenue tools are too small, a thousand cuts that do not solve the issue.

We need to toll the DVP and Gardiner.

This requires provincial permission. That said, a motion did pass asking the province to upload the Gardiner/DVP. The City can't compel this, but will request it.

We need a municipal sales tax.

The City is requesting this as well, but it requires provincial/federal permission/cooperation.

hotel tax

The City has this now.

parking lot tax

The City Manager has been directed to bring such a tax forward, to this years budget process, with an eye to 2025 impementation.

The devil will be in the details (rate, what spaces are covered etc.); assuming it passes Council in its final form.

, and a property tax increase.

There will be one of those as well, higher than we've seen in recent years, but the specific rate wasn't approved at this meeting.
 
I’m really, really surprised that there was no mention of a higher property tax (as the report suggested) at the Council meeting. That should help a fair bit.

That is coming, everyone knows it; its in the report, though no proposed rate is listed.

There was discussion and a request to advance the idea of a graduated property tax on luxury properties.

***

In terms of helping, absolutely, it would,. Though, the picture for the City vs a year ago (no more Covid bailouts and a worsening shelter situation have made things a good deal worse than they were).

Roughly, a 1% tax hike equates to about 55M a year under current rules (caps on multi-res and commercial tax rates).

So if you were to assume a 5% structural increase in property tax (above inflation and population growth), you could add ~275M per year.

Keep in mind, the base increase this year, likely needs to be 4% to tread water, that puts you at a 9% hike. I don't know if Council will go that far; maybe over 2 years? ; regardless, the budgetary hole is about 1.5B excluding unmet capital needs and without material service improvements.

Even a 9% hike gets you only about 1/3 of the way to balance.

You still have to find money for new trains for Line 2; for Platform Edge Doors, for the ever growing state of good repair backlog in Parks, for a new LTC home; and the list goes on.

A lot will have to be done, and the province/Ottawa will have to offer something as well.
 
Why would the province/Ottawa subsidize us any further? My parents who live in a small town in Northern Ontario pay extremely high taxes (8-10k) for a house that's probably worth 250k.Why should they have to contribute/subsidize wealthy Torontonians where the average cost of a house is over 1 million, who pay less in taxes? The wealthiest people in the country going to knock on the door to rob from the poorest makes no sense - and I live in Toronto!
 
Why would the province/Ottawa subsidize us any further? My parents who live in a small town in Northern Ontario pay extremely high taxes (8-10k) for a house that's probably worth 250k.Why should they have to contribute/subsidize wealthy Torontonians where the average cost of a house is over 1 million, who pay less in taxes? The wealthiest people in the country going to knock on the door to rob from the poorest makes no sense - and I live in Toronto!

Toronto subsidizes them, they don't subsidize Toronto. If Toronto blipped out of existence tomorrow small towns across Ontario would be in big trouble.
 

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