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From a tax point of view, a taxi is a direct "expense", i.e. you take a taxi ride (for business-related purposes!), it costs x amount of dollars, it's a reimbursable expense. However, a transit pass is like being given a mileage allowance -- it's not directly related to a specific activity. So, if you're given $50/month for mileage on a car, you could take one trip or twenty. If you're given a metropass, you could ride the TTC once or hundreds of times. Reimbursed mileage for car travel is not a taxable benefit, but a set allowance is. I'm guessing that's CRA's rationale here for calling a metropass a taxable benefit but not a taxi ride. Parking is a little iffier since you could park once or 20 times.

However, the rationale for tax reasons isn't very helpful when it comes to encouraging these folks to leave their cars at home and use public transit. And they don't have to buy a metropass out of their personal funds (actually, if they did, they can claim it on their taxes), but if the city pays for it, it becomes a taxable benefit.
 
Presumably councillors will now claim individual transit trips at up to $3 each as expenses when they are on business. Certainly cheaper than a taxi.

And as a councillors primary office is normally in their ward - then any time a councillor heads to city hall, it will be expensable.

I see no savings here, and additional costs to process all the red tape.

Also it is bizarre that Revenue Canada doesn't see free parking as a taxable benefit (at least for an employer for which parking lots normally cost money).
 
Parking would be a taxable benefit, but it is up to the city to file the right reports to make it so with the CRA. I know my old parking spot in a tower in downtown was considered a taxable benefit - my employer even set the amount that came off my pay stub to be sure I wasn't hit with money owing at tax time. As for golf and zoo passes, there was actually a court case in the last year where someone managed to argue a golf membership wasn't a taxable benefit since she hated golf and was required to golf as part of her corporate role. So it is a fine line, especially since the intent of the golf passes has been painted in the past as making sure councillors can golf without it being paid for by developers.
 
So weird, but whatever. We should totally do everything we can to make sure City Councillor isn't an attractive job except for those riding off their family's wealth (like Rob Ford) or those too unskilled to get work elsewhere (like, um, lots of council - and maybe also Rob Ford).

Kinda dug this burn on Ford from Giambrone, though:

“(Councillor) transit passes are a very limited direct cost to the TTC,” he said. “For example, I suspect Rob Ford’s pass has cost us very little in lost revenue.”
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From The Globe's story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...surrender-tax-free-ttc-passes/article1553149/
 
Darwinkgo said:
Parking would be a taxable benefit, but it is up to the city to file the right reports to make it so with the CRA.
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The article notes that "The Globe and Mail reported that the CRA agreed not to tax councillors' city hall parking privileges.

Presumably the logic is that a councillor's office is in his ward. So if a councillor is parking at other locations - such at city hall, then he must be travelling on business, and therefore it it not a taxable benefit (and there is little point in the city not providing free parking, as it would always qualify as an expense ... and therefore making councillors pay for parking would only create red tape and expense.

It's a shame that one couldn't make the same case for TTC passes - however some councillors don't seem to use them for business travel. The irony is that it is the Ford's who are in this category.

Presumably any councillor that makes enough business trips in a month to qualify to pay for a pass ($111 a month in tokens) will simply expense a transit pass.
 
Ladies and gentlemen of City Hall: the honeymoon is officially over.

"In reality it saves very little as the majority of councillors do not use the passes but opt to drive"

Only a complete buffoon would say that the passholder not using a pass will reduce cost. Councillors seem to have a perception problem when it comes to finances. The citizens still paid for the councillors' passes. It is STILL a cost to us whether they use it or not. Add on that the alternate of passes - cabs, free parking that councillors either expense to us or they get for free. They are harping on about how we, the people, need to take public transit, and pay MORE for it, and now councillors are returning their free passes because they refuse to pay the tax on them. The TAX!

We should be happy at least that no more money is going to be wasted in legal fees to City lawyers to fight the impossible with the CRA. Too bad it took years to call in the freebies. Now if the tax people would only go after these incumbent councillors and ensure the public that they will have to pay taxes on their $53,000 expense accounts, along with taxing them for free zoo tickets, Sony Centre passes, Toronto X passes, AGO passes, golf course passes, ROM and CNE passes; we are headed in the right direction towards reformation come October 25, 2010.
 
Fresh Start said:
The citizens still paid for the councillors' passes. It is STILL a cost to us whether they use it or not.
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If the TTC issues someone a free pass, and they don't use it, how is there any cost (other than the admin cost, postage, of sending the pass)?

At the same time, I wonder what the admin cost will be of processing councillors $2.50 expenses for each transit ride they take.
 
MetroMan said:
Why can't anybody in the media get her name right? It's Thomson. That's just sloppy editing.
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But it's so easy to get the two confused...

thomson_and_thompson.jpg
 
nfitz said:
If the TTC issues someone a free pass, and they don't use it, how is there any cost (other than the admin cost, postage, of sending the pass)?

At the same time, I wonder what the admin cost will be of processing councillors $2.50 expenses for each transit ride they take.
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nfitz,

You seem like an intelligent person at least some of the time, so why can't you understand that if they don't use it, most likely they are giving it to a staff member who uses it? Therefore the TTC is being deprived of that someone actually purchasing his or her own pass. You'd have to be an out-of-touch politician to not realize how important an issue this is for citizens of Toronto. Of course they should be taxed for this and other perks, like every other worker who receives an employer benefit. Public funds that could contribute towards keeping a rec centre pool open for kids, or put money into after-school programs.
 
Fresh Start said:
... so why can't you understand that if they don't use it, most likely they are giving it to a staff member who uses it?
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I very much doubt that is the case. My understanding is that these annual passes are different than the monthly TTC passes, and would draw attention if they were being passed around like gifts. Any councillor who did such a thing would know it would be a career ending move if the media found out.

I can't imagine the level of paranoia that would exist to operate under the assumption that most councillors would operate criminally. There's one or two councillors this wouldn't surprise me about ... but to assume that this is a widespread problem is getting into tin-foil hat territory.
 
The Star today has a run down on the scandals and gaffes that have surrounded most of the people running for mayor. Only two come out looking well: Rossi and Pantalone.

JOE PANTALONE:

Despite serving nearly three decades as a city councillor, Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone has never committed a noteworthy gaffe or found himself embroiled in any lasting scandal.

ROCCO ROSSI:

Rocco Rossi, as he often says, is not a “career politician.†But back in 1987, a then 25-year-old Rossi wrote a column for the Star. In one story, written on the heels of royal visit, Rossi called for an end to Canada’s relationship with the monarchy. By today’s standards, it’s a pretty tame opinion. At the time, it drew sharp criticism from readers.
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I await with baited breath the coming election to see which lefty the good citizens of Toronto will elect and thus ensure Toronto's continued decline.

And they call Conservatives neanderthals... rather be a neanderthal than a "progressive".
 
Fresh Start said:
I await with baited breath the coming election to see which lefty the good citizens of Toronto will elect and thus ensure Toronto's continued decline.
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What an odd statement, given how much we've progressed under Miller compared to Lastman!

Odder still, given the only serious lefty running is hardly a front-runner!
 
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