Mayor Ford has asked city staff to provide a report to executive committee in early July on cutting the Municipal Land Transfer Tax by 10 percent. He stated that the City should make up for the lost revenue by reducing expenditures rather than increasing other taxes. In 2012, this tax provided about $340 million in revenues.
This seems like a good time to remind the Mayor of the results of his own core services review. In it, KPMG reviewed the City’s 105 services and ranked 98 percent of services as either core or traditional services. Core services are required by legislation or essential to the effective functioning of government; while traditional services enhance the quality of life and liveability of Toronto, and included parks and community centres. Freezing spending actually means a reduction in services when we take inflation and population growth into account. During the Mayor’s tenure, it has become clear that there is no “gravy train” and that any further losses in revenue will result in further cutbacks to services that Torontonians rely on.
Below is an infographic that illustrates what the loss of this revenue from the Municipal Land Transfer Tax would mean for households and communities.
