Road Tolls
A new study concludes that cities in the GTA and Hamilton should levy road tolls and new fuel taxes to reduce gridlock and pay for better public transit. Harry Kitchen, an economic professor at Peterborough’s Trent University who authored the study, says it’s the best and fairest way to make much needed repairs to the quickly crumbling infrastructure. Right now, municipalities can only raise revenue from property taxes and user fees. His recommendations would require legislative changes by the provincial government. The study calls for road tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and the Queen Elizabeth Way. It also recommends a fuel tax of six cents a litre, as well as levies on non-residential parking spaces and motor vehicle registration fees in order to fund their road and public transit systems, reduce traffic congestion and cut greenhouse gas emissions. What’s your view? Do you think road tolls and fuel taxes are needed?
Yes or no to megacity?
At the start of January 1998, Toronto’s six municipal governments were amalgamated into one megacity, but a decade later financial problems still exist. The idea of amalgamation came with promises of huge cost savings, even cuts in property tax, but that never happened. Many blame the amalgamation for financial problems the city still faces today. The Conservative provincial government of Mike Harris promised amalgamation wouldn’t hurt the new city financially. But Toronto’s costs rose fast and revenue didn’t. The promised savings never materialized, nor did those property tax decreases. Harris later said that Toronto failed to make the necessary cuts. But others say Harris failed to realize how expensive such a large government would become. Property tax revenue barely budged, yet the cost of wages, social services and other programs skyrocketed. Over the following years, Toronto sunk deeper and deeper into a financial hole. Toronto now has new tax revenue coming in and it is hoped that this spring the provincial government may once again start paying for the expensive social programs cities were handed at amalgamation. What’s your view? Did amalgamation help or hinder the development of the city? Do you like the new GTA, or would you prefer the old municipalities?
