supporting the anal bill
Because everyone loves getting screwed by the government!
So I know everyone gets annoyed by the "Toronto is the center of the universe" attitude that so many people believe Torontonians have and it's a handy little safety net to pull out when a Torontonian complains about taxes being unfair. To many it's a fitting punishment for moving to an area that is so arrogant and self righteous. So instead of calling these fair taxes... I propose we just refer to it as arrogance taxes. Something befitting the self centered residents of our fair city.
In a city where the infrastructure is crumbling (Mind you it's no London Ont so we're still better off than some thanks to a little planning), the city has come up with a plan to revitalize many of the things that keep this city one of the greatest.
So what seems to be the issue?
Both the federal and provincial goverments have denied Toronto the kind of money they need to keep this city going.
There are two sides to every story.
The federal government just awarded Toronto 670 million for new work on the TTC subway lines. That's apparently not nearly enough considering the price tag for the just unveiled plan of a $6Billion light rail project.
The TTC has become very ineffective at doing what it is supposed to be doing. The key interest of the TTC currently is to ensure that those working for them continue to receive support from their powerful union to drive the costs sky high. Every time these extortionists go to work, the TTC is forced to pay more than they have and it all ends up coming out of the tax payers pocket.
This appears in several different ways as we've seen over the years. Degraded service becomes an issue as more and more buses and trains are taken out of rotation due to mechanical upkeep needs. Fewer and fewer workers can be paid all the time so the staff requirements get cut which in turn disrupts the value of service. Suddenly you have the choice of cramming yourself into a tiny space on an over crowded subway train, streetcar or bus or taking your car to work and actually controlling whether you make it on time or not.
So now you've chosen to use the roads that your property taxes pay for rather than pay to use a system that your tax dollars already go to supporting because it's failing miserably as a system.
This is where it gets messy. Now you cause gridlock because you are driving. Now you are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions because your SUV burns too much fuel. Now you destroy the TTC by not paying to use it even though it's not worth it for you to use it.
Well then the city decides that because it's not being used the way it should be, the TTC needs more funding to fix the problems. So they apply to both the Federal government and the provincial government for a realistic share in the tax purse to help some infrastructure problems. Being a city that contributes on a Federal and Provincial level, the greatest tax revenue per capita one could assume that at least a fair portion of that tax money would be reused to manage and update current infrastructures. Instead, that little money that will actually be received will somehow manage to be soaked up by yet another TTC strike and workers complaining about wages and how unsafe their job is sitting behind glass all day having to touch filthy money.
Instead, since the city gets basically nothing and even worse has several programs each year offloaded by both the Federal and Provincial governments which means on top of not having any new money coming in, they actually have to pay for programs that used to be covered by other levels of the goverment. There is a strong belief that the Federal goverment is intentionally creating a surplus of tax money and withholding tax payers money in order to show their strength in leadership. Whatever the reason is, we need our tax money back. Forget surplus.... let's take care of our own before we destroy this country.
So, the city strikes back. With fuel currently sitting at $1.04 per litre Toronto would like to tax us more on gasoline. In Toronto we currently pay 31.1% in taxes alone on fuel. Miller says we should increase that for those living in the GTA.
So in an area that is currently the most expensive to live in in all of Canada, and according to Mercer, the 47th most expensive city in the world, we are now looking at the possibility of all kinds of GTA related luxury taxes to help the city pay for infrastructure that we have actually already paid for once. Everyone else in the country gets the same funding from the goverment without having to impose their own additional luxury taxes yet here we are looking at making a trip to the movies more expensive.
So basically, if you want to live in the most expensive place in Canada, be forced to use an outdated and often inconvenient method of travel and pay through the nose while doing so... there are plenty of spaces opened! It's probably a good possibility that there's so much space due to all of our doctors going to the States to practice!
How Miller couldn't see this one coming is beyond me. For one, Dalton McGuinty hasn't kept a single promise yet. Not to mention, he comes up with this brilliant idea to allow the city to "respond to the needs of residents and business" by giving the city it's own charter. In essence it allows the city to make up for any shortcomings of the Federal or Provincial government by creating additional taxes to supply a new influx of cash for a cash strapped city. Well, if that's the case, the city's not all that strapped for cash now so the money can actually be easily spent elsewhere.
So the taxes have been nicknamed "sin taxes" (hmmmm, maybe these things are kind of bad and deserve to be taxed anyhow). Proposals include 5% levies on alcohol (LCBO and table service), tobacco, tickets to movies and live events, and parking lots would pay the city a yearly fee per space (although I'm most certain they would never pass the cost back on to you) and road tolls suggested for both the Gardiner and the DVP.
So in a city where insurances rates are already skyrocketing making owning a vehicle already quite demanding, the fact that it costs well over $60 CAD to fill up right now, parking can be anywhere upwards of $12 a day downtown just think if how much it would cost you for a night out if you drove downtown, parked, had dinner and drinks, went to a movie and ohhhhhhhhhh god forbid you actually smoke cigarettes. You might as well move to Sarnia, I hear it's cheaper living there.
Well all I can really say to all this is keep going Canada. Every year we make our way further and further up the Mercer list. Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo... here we come!
So I know everyone gets annoyed by the "Toronto is the center of the universe" attitude that so many people believe Torontonians have and it's a handy little safety net to pull out when a Torontonian complains about taxes being unfair. To many it's a fitting punishment for moving to an area that is so arrogant and self righteous. So instead of calling these fair taxes... I propose we just refer to it as arrogance taxes. Something befitting the self centered residents of our fair city.
In a city where the infrastructure is crumbling (Mind you it's no London Ont so we're still better off than some thanks to a little planning), the city has come up with a plan to revitalize many of the things that keep this city one of the greatest.
So what seems to be the issue?
Both the federal and provincial goverments have denied Toronto the kind of money they need to keep this city going.
There are two sides to every story.
The federal government just awarded Toronto 670 million for new work on the TTC subway lines. That's apparently not nearly enough considering the price tag for the just unveiled plan of a $6Billion light rail project.
The TTC has become very ineffective at doing what it is supposed to be doing. The key interest of the TTC currently is to ensure that those working for them continue to receive support from their powerful union to drive the costs sky high. Every time these extortionists go to work, the TTC is forced to pay more than they have and it all ends up coming out of the tax payers pocket.
This appears in several different ways as we've seen over the years. Degraded service becomes an issue as more and more buses and trains are taken out of rotation due to mechanical upkeep needs. Fewer and fewer workers can be paid all the time so the staff requirements get cut which in turn disrupts the value of service. Suddenly you have the choice of cramming yourself into a tiny space on an over crowded subway train, streetcar or bus or taking your car to work and actually controlling whether you make it on time or not.
So now you've chosen to use the roads that your property taxes pay for rather than pay to use a system that your tax dollars already go to supporting because it's failing miserably as a system.
This is where it gets messy. Now you cause gridlock because you are driving. Now you are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions because your SUV burns too much fuel. Now you destroy the TTC by not paying to use it even though it's not worth it for you to use it.
Well then the city decides that because it's not being used the way it should be, the TTC needs more funding to fix the problems. So they apply to both the Federal government and the provincial government for a realistic share in the tax purse to help some infrastructure problems. Being a city that contributes on a Federal and Provincial level, the greatest tax revenue per capita one could assume that at least a fair portion of that tax money would be reused to manage and update current infrastructures. Instead, that little money that will actually be received will somehow manage to be soaked up by yet another TTC strike and workers complaining about wages and how unsafe their job is sitting behind glass all day having to touch filthy money.
Instead, since the city gets basically nothing and even worse has several programs each year offloaded by both the Federal and Provincial governments which means on top of not having any new money coming in, they actually have to pay for programs that used to be covered by other levels of the goverment. There is a strong belief that the Federal goverment is intentionally creating a surplus of tax money and withholding tax payers money in order to show their strength in leadership. Whatever the reason is, we need our tax money back. Forget surplus.... let's take care of our own before we destroy this country.
So, the city strikes back. With fuel currently sitting at $1.04 per litre Toronto would like to tax us more on gasoline. In Toronto we currently pay 31.1% in taxes alone on fuel. Miller says we should increase that for those living in the GTA.
So in an area that is currently the most expensive to live in in all of Canada, and according to Mercer, the 47th most expensive city in the world, we are now looking at the possibility of all kinds of GTA related luxury taxes to help the city pay for infrastructure that we have actually already paid for once. Everyone else in the country gets the same funding from the goverment without having to impose their own additional luxury taxes yet here we are looking at making a trip to the movies more expensive.
So basically, if you want to live in the most expensive place in Canada, be forced to use an outdated and often inconvenient method of travel and pay through the nose while doing so... there are plenty of spaces opened! It's probably a good possibility that there's so much space due to all of our doctors going to the States to practice!
How Miller couldn't see this one coming is beyond me. For one, Dalton McGuinty hasn't kept a single promise yet. Not to mention, he comes up with this brilliant idea to allow the city to "respond to the needs of residents and business" by giving the city it's own charter. In essence it allows the city to make up for any shortcomings of the Federal or Provincial government by creating additional taxes to supply a new influx of cash for a cash strapped city. Well, if that's the case, the city's not all that strapped for cash now so the money can actually be easily spent elsewhere.
So the taxes have been nicknamed "sin taxes" (hmmmm, maybe these things are kind of bad and deserve to be taxed anyhow). Proposals include 5% levies on alcohol (LCBO and table service), tobacco, tickets to movies and live events, and parking lots would pay the city a yearly fee per space (although I'm most certain they would never pass the cost back on to you) and road tolls suggested for both the Gardiner and the DVP.
So in a city where insurances rates are already skyrocketing making owning a vehicle already quite demanding, the fact that it costs well over $60 CAD to fill up right now, parking can be anywhere upwards of $12 a day downtown just think if how much it would cost you for a night out if you drove downtown, parked, had dinner and drinks, went to a movie and ohhhhhhhhhh god forbid you actually smoke cigarettes. You might as well move to Sarnia, I hear it's cheaper living there.
Well all I can really say to all this is keep going Canada. Every year we make our way further and further up the Mercer list. Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo... here we come!