A Very Serious Poll Question

[Beast Master]

I have been thinking about this concept and I bet people would go for it in droves.

We all know how the "Green Shift" plan will cost us all money and we are all doubtful if we would benefit from the increased revenue.

I thought, what if they introduced a "Municipality Tax" 1% that would be collected with the GST, to make it simple and then 1/6 of this GST amount collected by the federal government would be distributed DIRECTLY to towns, cities, municipalities.

I did a caculation and 1% represents $5 Billion per year, which means an area like metro Toronto who is looking at almost $600 Million shortfall next year would receive about $832 Million per year, Ottawa $178 Million, a smaller city of 74,000 would get $11 Million.

This would prevent run away property taxes, cuts in services, instead a stable property tax amount with IMPROVED services.

It makes sense to me, what do you think??

[Sally888]

Well you hit the nail on the head BM it makes sense....

so therefore it will never be implemented

[Maple]

How much of that $5 Billion would then be used to pay the administration costs involved with the tax? More different forms of taxation just means more tax overall, because each one involves overhead for collection, regulation and enforcement. What you want is one simple tax that can be collected efficiently, and then have the government divide it up into equitable portions.

I don't mind paying my fair share of taxes, but I really hate paying tax just to pay for the expense of collecting tax.

[harkatsmom]

We have already been dinged out here with the carbon tax so I am not for anymore taxes...

[swouper2]

IDK - I see your point - but that means that peole who live outside of municipalities would pay the same tax as urban people.

I don't know how I would feel about paying for water/sewer/snow removal/leisure services/garbage removal if I had NONE of those services available to me.

[April07]

We are already taxed to death....I am not in favour of any new taxes.

[eri]

I think it's a good idea...lately with the 'tax cut revolution' (thanks jim!) everything has gone to crap yet everyone is so content with the extra 5 bucks in their pocket...

[Beast Master]

just curious about my idea is all.
the other way is property taxes are all going to go WAY up is all, or, services cut to the point of rediculous

[rachel1496]

I like the idea in theory because honestly, with all these tax cuts that have been happening I'm really not noticing any more money in our hands than we had before, but services have gone way down. The only way I'd want it implemented is if someone could guarantee me that the money would go to things like making sure the sidewalks are cleared of snow on a regular basis and not to renovating City Hall again.

[travelgeek]

Absolutely no more taxes. Miller (Toronto) and his lefties at city hall have shown that he cannot be trusted to handle public funds. Any additional revenue would just be squandered ($3MM renovation of city hall) and end up in the pockets of the councilors and the unions. Just look at the TTC.... fare hike after fare hike, yet no improvement in service.... only a rich contract to ensure they are the highest paid of all of the municipalities.