At this time every year, city hall is dominated by the city’s budget. Toronto is squeezed unmercifully between an inadequate, inflexible revenue source (property tax, which doesn’t grow even when property values do) and soaring financial demands. With only 9 cents of every tax dollar, we face aging infrastructure, spiraling construction costs, a growing population, plus about $1.5 billion needed for poverty reduction, which should be paid for by the Ford government.

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The 2022 budget process will have wrapped up by the time this publication goes to print, but I still thought I could provide an update on some of the policy pieces I have been working on advancing through my role on the budget committee. 

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Cancelled car tax could have made up difference for Toronto By Annemarie Brissenden The City of Toronto’s proposed tax-supported operating budget for 2016 rings in at just over $10 billion, but what’s remarkable is what it doesn’t include. Among the things it doesn’t include are much-needed Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) money, $25 per capita […]

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This budget is not good for Canadians, nor is it good fiscal policy. By Olivia Chow, Member of Parliament for Trinity-Spadina Canadians have a right to expect reliable government services in return for our tax dollars. And for decades, our public priorities were clear—we built a public healthcare system that became the envy of many […]

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