[Admiral Beez]

Even a brief tax freeze will result in bigger tax increases later on - once Ford is put out of office. Someone eventually will have to act responsibly.

Forget the tax freeze, I want a spending freeze and then reduction. It was ridiculous that the mayor and council voted themselves a fat raise in the middle of the recession, and then caved in to the unions giving them raises when they've already got golden job security and good pay, and then voted in land transfer taxes, vehicle registration fees, pet licensing fees, increased fees for driveway and onstreet parking, etc., etc.

Besides all this, I'm fine with keeping all those fees, let council and the unions keep their jobs and salary increases - no point in reversing the past. But the butt stops here and now - no more spending increases.

 

[archanfel]

That's what the increase was ... last year it ended with a .9 ... so? The CPI is about 2% currently ...

Ford doesn't seem to understand these numbers ... I've seen him talking a couple of times where he has mistakenly said that the increase last year was 5%. How can someone running for mayor not even remember what the increase was? Do we want a mayor who can't keep even simple facts straight?

As for $60 a year for a car ... what's that ... 2 tanks of gas? Come on ... no one is that whiney.

It would be a lot easier to remember if it was 0%. No?

Actually, the latest CPI is 1.8% in July and possibly 1.9% in August.

Whiny or not, it's not your money to be generous with. And now Rob Ford is leading in the poll. That's an important lesson. Never take other people's money for granted.

 

[archanfel]

Imagine that, $5 a month for vehicle registration. How horrible! Maybe we should dump that and instead add a transit tax on the purchase of gasoline.

There is no way that Ford or anyone else will be able to put a tax cut in place. The province will never grant the city a red cent if that gets done. It will not happen. Even a brief tax freeze will result in bigger tax increases later on - once Ford is put out of office. Someone eventually will have to act responsibly.

Then you wouldn't mind giving me $5 a month? I am always surprised by the lack of gratitude by the government supporters. And you guys are surprised that the city is angry?

As for the province, their turn will come.

 

[nfitz]

Whiny or not, it's not your money to be generous with. And now Rob Ford is leading in the poll. That's an important lesson. Never take other people's money for granted.

So keeping increases lower than neighbouring municipalities, and taxes lower than neighbouring municipalities and providing better services is something one shouldn't do?

This has nothing to do with taxpayer rage, and everything to do with the major media outlets ... the Sun and Star ... mercilessly attacking Miller for little reason, and trying to get rid of an NDP politician. However, they've gone too far and unleashed a politician that ironically neither paper supports.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Forget the tax freeze, I want a spending freeze and then reduction. It was ridiculous that the mayor and council voted themselves a fat raise in the middle of the recession, and then caved in to the unions giving them raises when they've already got golden job security and good pay, and then voted in land transfer taxes, vehicle registration fees, pet licensing fees, increased fees for driveway and onstreet parking, etc., etc.

Besides all this, I'm fine with keeping all those fees, let council and the unions keep their jobs and salary increases - no point in reversing the past. But the butt stops here and now - no more spending increases.

City Council did not vote themselves a pay increase in the middle of the recession. Council pay was set in 2006.

The TTC union won their wage increase through a provincial arbiter. The outcome of the strike last summer was certainly not ideal, but it was not a win for the union by any stretch. Both sides compromised.

Non-union public workers have had their salaries frozen for a while now.

How do you propose the city avoid increasing spending when the population is rising, TTC ridership is riding, infrastructure is aging, provincially mandated services are becoming more costly, etc.?

 

[archanfel]

City Council did not vote themselves a pay increase in the middle of the recession. Council pay was set in 2006.

The TTC union won their wage increase through a provincial arbiter. The outcome of the strike last summer was certainly not ideal, but it was not a win for the union by any stretch. Both sides compromised.

Non-union public workers have had their salaries frozen for a while now.

How do you propose the city avoid increasing spending when the population is rising, TTC ridership is riding, infrastructure is aging, provincially mandated services are becoming more costly, etc.?

Let's see: "Non-union public workers have had their salaries frozen for a while now." and "The TTC union won their wage increase through a provincial arbiter.". I guess the solution is quite obvious, no?

 

[GraphicMatt]

No, tell me. And don't say "get rid of unions!" like the only thing keeping unionized labour around is a mayor of Toronto who is a little too sympathetic toward them.

 

[urbandreamer]

$60 a year is what the average homeless guy in downtown Toronto makes in a day.

Fresh Start, are you nuts?

(I would increase it to $250 a year.)

 

[archanfel]

No, tell me. And don't say "get rid of unions!" like the only thing keeping unionized labour around is a mayor of Toronto who is a little too sympathetic toward them.

No, the only thing keeping monopolistic unionized labour around is multiple levels of government that is a little too sympathetic toward them, including the Harper government.

According to a friend of mine from Britain, they put all kinds of limitations on unions to avoid monopoly. You got to admire the iron lady.

Since we lack the politic wills to crash the unions in Canada, privatizing might be the only answer. That's really unfortunate since if we had some backbone, there are better options, at least in the short run.

Even if privatization can't get rid of unions, it can at least protect us from a complete TTC shutdown. I remember there was a strike recently in Markham, but the other buses kept running.

Of course, the unions and their sympathizers will tell you that privatization would only increase costs. Plus, I don't think even Rob Ford has the guts to do that. He is not the most political savvy person though, so who knows. We will see.

 

[Internets]

I don't care what the rate is. Instead I look at my total tax dollars going to City Hall. By that measure since Miller became mayor, I've seen my property tax bill jump, my driveway and onstreet parking fees increase significantly, and now I'm paying a Miller registration tax on my vehicles. Instead of freezing and reducing spending, Miller has chosen to increase revenue and spending.

At least he did both in the same direction. Ford on the other hand will decrease revenue (vehicle registration fees, land transfer tax) and increase spending (Sheppard subway, new buses to replace street cars, increased operating cost for TTC, more police (why?)). Just like all conservative governments. For recent examples of decreased revenue and increased spending (resulting in increased debt) please refer to the Harper and Bush administrations.

This whole myth about being overtaxed in Toronto has gone way too far. Yes we have increased spending, but it was highly necessary. Can't anyone remember back to the end of the Lastman admin. Shipping all of our garbage to Michigan. Recycling that had to be sorted and that could take a fraction of what is recycled today. Declining TTC ridership (and a very bleak future for the TTC with no real future plans for expansion or improvement). A building department that took forever to process permits (no fast track). No Luminato, no Nuit Blanche. An oppressed arts community A huge infrastructure repair deficit (which still exists, but is much less severe). And gridlock, yes it was a problem back then as well, we didn't have a world ranking to prove it, but traffic was still shitty (and the only way Rob Ford will get rid of it is by stopping immigrants from coming here and getting rid of bike lanes and streetcars??? There aren't any bike lanes or streetcars on the DVP!!).

I don't really see anger, I see selfishness and near sightedness from the majority of those claiming to be angry. There is this hole sense of entitlement to the money that people earn. As if the jobs they work at are not at least partially a product of the services and initiatives from various levels of government.

 

[Coltaine79]

Yes, that's exactly it. SELFISHNESS. Quite possibly the major common theme among all conservatives nowadays, big-c and small-c.

"Me me me" <-- should be Ford's new campaign slogan

 

[archanfel]

At least he did both in the same direction. Ford on the other hand will decrease revenue (vehicle registration fees, land transfer tax) and increase spending (Sheppard subway, new buses to replace street cars, increased operating cost for TTC, more police (why?)). Just like all conservative governments. For recent examples of decreased revenue and increased spending (resulting in increased debt) please refer to the Harper and Bush administrations.

This whole myth about being overtaxed in Toronto has gone way too far. Yes we have increased spending, but it was highly necessary. Can't anyone remember back to the end of the Lastman admin. Shipping all of our garbage to Michigan. Recycling that had to be sorted and that could take a fraction of what is recycled today. Declining TTC ridership (and a very bleak future for the TTC with no real future plans for expansion or improvement). A building department that took forever to process permits (no fast track). No Luminato, no Nuit Blanche. An oppressed arts community A huge infrastructure repair deficit (which still exists, but is much less severe). And gridlock, yes it was a problem back then as well, we didn't have a world ranking to prove it, but traffic was still shitty (and the only way Rob Ford will get rid of it is by stopping immigrants from coming here and getting rid of bike lanes and streetcars??? There aren't any bike lanes or streetcars on the DVP!!).

I don't really see anger, I see selfishness and near sightedness from the majority of those claiming to be angry. There is this hole sense of entitlement to the money that people earn. As if the jobs they work at are not at least partially a product of the services and initiatives from various levels of government.

Donate all your money for all I care. Just don't be generous with other people's money.

 

[GenerationW]

One problem I don’t like seeing are these amateur transit planners, who try to put forth their ideas without doing research into their ideas. They don’t know the costs involved, or the infrastructure needed to support it, or what zoning is required to make it so, or what is required to maintain it, or to see what history has produced elsewhere from their or other ideas. They maybe good at brainstorming ideas, but don’t want to take the time to scrutiny them. They want something without looking further at the ramificationsl.

I agree -- down with amateur transit planners! I prefer transit planners who have archaeology degrees.

No one cares that he was busted for pot. What everyone cares about is that he lied about it when asked.

At this point, it seems that most people didn't care about either one.

We have some people who seem to say they agree with Rob Ford, just to picked for his team inside City Hall, should he win. But are they yesmen and yeswomen?

Yes.

Anyone who supports Rob Ford is also clearly a bigot

What do you call someone who makes blanket statements?

Someone in this thread about 50 pages back said if this thread hit 100 pages, RF would win....

That guy is a damn fool......wait, that was me.

How do you propose the city avoid increasing spending when the population is rising, TTC ridership is riding, infrastructure is aging, provincially mandated services are becoming more costly, etc.?

Freezing spending, except for a very short time, is probably unrealistic. What isn't unrealistic is reducing the rate of growth in spending.

 

[urbandreamer]

I have one question for Rob Ford:

Will he cut the fat?

 

[PinkLucy]

I don't know, but on the CP24 debate he said he's going to get rid of the bedbugs. I wonder if he's personally going to steam clean every infested location?