One of Miller's promises is to try and get the city of Toronto a cut of the federal and provincial sales taxes. ⇒
2 November 2006, early afternoon
Toronto reminds of the University of Waterloo: both seem like the sort of places that should be flush with cash, and both seem to be perpetually broke-ass.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
Canadian cities have been trying to get a decent share of federal and provincial taxes for some time, and it’s been an uphill battle.
Jack Layton, who used to be the president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, wrote about the issue in his last book. It’s generally at the municipal level that the most useful programs can be run and real change can happen, but they’ve got so little funding for these programs. Property taxes are apparently their only real means of collecting that kind of revenue.
by Matt on November 2 2006, 3:06 pm #
Christopher Hume made this point when Shima and I heard him speak. I am pretty sure property taxes, and I guess money the federal and provincial governments decide to dole out, are the only ways to get some cash. It seems sensible to give some chunk of your income tax to the city you work in, in addition to some chunk of the sales taxes generated by businesses operating within a given city.
by ramanan on November 2 2006, 3:13 pm #
In Washington state the sales tax rate is 6.5% but counties and cities have additional sales tax. For example, the city of Seattle has an additional 1.5% sales tax which goes to the city. That way the city gets a slice of the sales tax.
This also isn’t that bad since we don’t even have state taxes in Washington.
by awardtour on November 2 2006, 5:16 pm #
That seems like a really sound way of doing things.
by Matt on November 3 2006, 7:02 pm #