June 13, 2006
A Pint of Tax
If you're like Torontoist, you like to have a good time. You also like to save your money to be able to afford those aforementioned good times.
Get ready to fork out more cash because the Ontario government has given Toronto new taxing powers, and the savings go directly to City Hall. The new legislation gives Toronto's city council the ability to impose more municipal taxes on alcohol served at bars and restaurants as well as movie and concert tickets.
Toronto Mayor David Miller is quite happy about this new law, and looks forward to developing more "made-for-Toronto" policies to balance the city's reliance on property taxes. Alongside the tax reforms, the new legislation allow the city to set up lobbyist registry, define ward boundaries and create new architecture regulations.
This Torontoist is all for high taxes (and high gas prices, but that's another story) but only when those taxes are made to work. Where is this extra money going, and why is it only targeting 'social' activities? And does the city really expect large enough revenues from theatre ticket taxes? Further, these "for-Toronto-eyes-only" taxes on goods and services lead down a slippery slope to separation, referendums and Language Police. It's no coincidence Les Quebecois are the most taxed people in Canada...
Check out more in The Star, and the Globe and Mail.
[photo: Must Be Funny... - Robonto's personal stash]
|
Maybe that's why Les Quebecoise have the best daycare program in the country? I love taxes - it helps define socialism for me...that being said. Is the City of Toronto going to tell us what the taxes will be used for?
Quebec has the best day care in the country because Ontario pays for it. It's the province-to-province equalization payments that fund Quebec's social programmes while our roads and schools decay and our hospitals are closed and OHIP is cut back.
Toronto should have a referendum to decided what should be taxed and where those monies should go.
I wonder how many more rep theatres will have to close because people don't want to pay a tax for second-run films.
I know the web is a cesspool of poor writing and unedited, unproofed copy, but at least pretend you're making an effort. The number of typos here is just embarrassing.
I hear that the money will go to red tape and paper pushing. But at least those papers will be pushed in Toronto now, and not in Ottawa.
Get a life. There's more important things happening around you than typos. What planet do you live on, anyway?
Arrrrrrrrrgh! People defending high taxes AND poor punctuation on one post! I need to stop reading Torontoist in the morning; it's terrible for my blood pressure.