The Land Transfer Tax and the Vehicle Registration Tax are now the law. The Land Transfer Tax comes into effect on February 1. No date has yet been announced for the implementation of the Vehicle Registration Tax because the logistics haven’t been worked out. It is however estimated that the new tax will take effect sometime this fall. But, Mayor David Miller is not done picking your pockets yet. If he was his way your pockets will be turned inside out and you’ll be looking for change on the street.

Since the “Stronger City of Toronto Act”, which granted the city new taxing powers, came into force on January 1st, 2007, Mayor Miller has devoted himself to dreaming up new cash grab tax schemes. Unfortunately he is not very creative. It’s just the same old discussions on the same old items. The City of Toronto is proposing new taxes on:

•    Tobacco
•    Alcohol
•    Parking
•    Billboards
•    New home-buying
•    Driver’s licenses
•    Road toll
•    Entertainment tickets - movies, theatre, and concerts
•    Garbage collection

The only new one on me is the tax on billboards. Otherwise the rest are the old standards in tax proposals. Aren’t there any new items that we could tax? Toronto has had enough of taxes and Mayor Miller knows it. So he proceeds to insult our collective intelligence and call them “revenue tools” instead of taxes and constantly complains that our financial problems are due to insufficient funding from the province or the feds. It’s everyone’s problem but his. Polling has shown that the people of Toronto want the city to get their own house in order and deal with their own spending before they even hint at more taxes. After all, what’s the point of collecting more taxes when the city doesn’t have the brains to make sound fiscal decisions with the money collected?

To sign the No New Taxes Petition, follow the link below.
https://secure.lexi.net/ctf/petitions.php?petition_id=40