Toronto Residents Facing Nearly 4% Property Tax Hike

Toronto City Councillors did something on Monday they haven’t done since amalgamation was forced on them during the Harris government years – balance their books without any bickering, any major arguing and any weeks-long standoff going line-by-line through every expense and fact.

It’s an amazing accomplishment given the precarious financial brink the city is sitting on. But this good news comes with a lot of bad if you own a home here. The accomplishment is coming on your back, in the form of a hefty 3.7 per cent property tax hike. That’s expected to add an extra $80-90 to the average household and it still doesn’t take into account the 60 bucks you’ll have to fork over for the Vehicle Registration tax; the thousands it will cost you to buy a new residence thanks to the Land Transfer Tax; and the new user fees for rec centres and services like garbage collection.

Despite all that, Mayor David Miller is congratulating his staff and council on making it happen. “[It’s] an historic event,” he insists. “For the first time since amalgamation, we are introducing a budget that is balanced.

“This is exactly the kind of property tax hike I committed Torontonians to keeping property taxes to. You know, had we not taken a number of the steps that the city took over the past year, including in this budget … We would have been faced with a double digit tax hike. I’m pleased with this budget. It preserves services. It invests modestly in some important new ones, and it keeps the increase as low as we could.”

Many residents beg to differ. “I think it’s pretty ridiculous,” gripes Ryan Nemura, who dreads paying more to renew his licence. “I can’t afford it. It’s not good for me, and I have to drive for work.”

Mary Lees is on a fixed income and has lived in the same home for 35 years. She worries many people her age will lose their houses if they can’t pay the new rates. “It will be a hardship, a lot harder for some and not as hard for others, but it’s still a hardship for everybody,” she argues. 

Most believe savings could have been found anywhere other than the pockets of those who live here. “It’s difficult to figure out when you add up all the myriad of hidden costs and total costs and new user fees per family, it’s hard to know exactly how much people pay,” warns Kevin Gaudet of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation. “We do know that the city’s spending is up five per cent year over year, and they just don’t seem to get that under control.”

So is there any good news in all this? Actually, there is. All that new money will allow for improved service on the TTC without any cuts to existing routes. It will hopefully allow the transit and police unions to work out frictionless contracts without job action. And it should keep the inevitable squabbling down to a dull roar at City Hall until next year at this time when it could start all over again.

In the meantime, while this may seem a fait accompli, you’ll still get a chance to tell politicians what you think of their handiwork. Public comments will be invited at a meeting February 5th, after which the document will go to City Council for full approval sometime in March.

It seems like a bottomless pit. You send your money away to City Hall and it disappears into the financial ether. Where does it go once it’s out of your bank account and into the hands of the tax collector? Toronto Police get most of it. Our Fire Services take a huge chunk, too. So does the TTC.

Here’s an overview of where the city puts all your money.

Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go?
(City of Toronto figures for 2007, based on property tax of $2,174.60)

Police Services & Police Services Board: $531.52

Debt Charges: $265.99

Fire Services: $226.93

Social Services: $182.87

Shelter, Support and Housing: $173.06

TTC: $160.24

Parks, Forestry & Recreation: $153.00

Transportation Services: $124.30

Solid Waste Management: $123.93

Toronto Public Library: $101.09

Children’s Services: $42.73

Toronto Public Health: $34.03

Community Partnership and Investment Program: $28.16

Seniors Homes: $22.05

Economic Development/Culture/Tourism: $16.61

City Council: $13.27

City Planning: $9.06

Building Services: $8.08

Licensing and Standards: $7.44

Other (includes court services, information services, boards, commissions, Toronto Zoo etc.):  $75.19

Source: City of Toronto