tax

Thursday September 28, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 28, 2023

Municipal Budget Woes: The Balancing Act Amid Rising Costs

March 24, 2007

In Ontario, municipalities are currently navigating treacherous financial waters, trying to maintain essential services while grappling with budget shortfalls. The pressures to raise property taxes loom large, but it’s a precarious path to tread, especially at a time when citizens are already stretched thin by rising inflation, borrowing costs, and a cost of living crisis. The recent budget discussions in Hamilton serve as a stark reminder of the anxieties that homeowners face.

News: City says 14.2 per cent tax increase looming for Hamilton next year  

August 22, 2012

Coun. Tom Jackson’s recent question in Hamilton hit a nerve: with skyrocketing property values since the last assessment in 2016, many homeowners feared their taxes would double or worse. The reality, as explained by Carmelo Lipsi, the vice-president and COO of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), is far less dire. Reassessment doesn’t automatically double your taxes; it just redistributes the tax burden.

The reassessment process is based on a complex set of factors, including real estate activity, property size, location, and construction quality. When the reassessment occurs, it compares the change in your property’s assessed value to the average change for similar properties in your municipality. If your property’s increase exceeds the average, you may expect to pay more taxes; if it’s below, you might see a reduction.

August 14, 2014

In areas with rapidly rising property values, homeowners may face tax increases, while those in more stable areas could see a reduction. Additionally, area rating in Hamilton, where different parts of town pay varying amounts for different services, further complicates the tax calculation.

It’s crucial to note that reassessment isn’t the only factor affecting taxes. Council-approved tax increases also contribute to changes in property tax bills. However, the idea that reassessment alone could double or triple taxes is a misconception.

The situation isn’t unique to Hamilton. Brockville is also facing budgetary challenges, with inflation, rising costs, and unforeseen expenses impacting the 2023 budget. A reliance on fiscal policy reserves and the need to find sustainable revenue sources loom large.

Analysis: As Ontario rolls in tax dollars, why are its cities so cash-strapped?

July 21, 2023

Oshawa, on the other hand, is exercising Strong Mayor powers to expedite budget decisions as part of a broader commitment to building 1.5 million homes by 2031. While these powers grant mayors greater control over budgets, the impact on housing remains uncertain.

In Toronto, Mayor Olivia Chow’s proposal for a city sales tax was met with mixed reactions. The city faces a substantial budget shortfall, and while the sales tax idea seems off the table for now, it highlights the challenging choices municipalities must make to bridge budget gaps.

Ultimately, municipalities in Ontario are navigating a complex financial landscape, and their perennial default is often to seek support from other levels of government. Raising property taxes, while often necessary to fund essential services, must be done judiciously, considering the economic pressures on residents. The reassessment process may not be the doomsday scenario some fear, but it’s a reminder of the delicate balance that local governments must strike when managing budgets in trying times. The key is transparency, communication, and a commitment to ensuring the burden of taxation remains fair for all residents. (AI)

 

Tuesday May 17, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 17, 2022

Ontario NDP plan to run deficits for 6 years and cancel gas tax cut

May 10, 2022

Ontario’s New Democrats are pledging to run larger deficits than the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals if elected and would likely not balance the budget for six years, but the party is eyeing some cost savings from cancelling a gas tax cut.

That pledge is expected to save $600 million in the first year by reversing the Progressive Conservative government’s move to reduce the provincial portion of the gas tax by 5.7 cents a litre for six months starting July 1.

Catherine Fife, who has served as the NDP’s finance critic, presented the costing Sunday and acknowledged the high cost of living, including rising gas prices that have topped $2 a litre, but said the temporary cut from the Tories is just a “gimmick.”

“We are looking for a long-term, sustainable strategy to alleviate gas prices, but also to stabilize,” she said, pointing to the party’s promise to regulate gas prices.

Thursday January 13, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 13, 2022

Quebec to impose a tax on people who are unvaccinated from COVID-19

June 17, 2021

Quebec is announcing it will impose a health tax on Quebecers who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement in Montreal on Tuesday afternoon, as the number of pandemic-related hospitalizations continues to climb.

“A health contribution will be charged to all adults that don’t want to get vaccinated. We are there now,” he said.

Legault said he felt the ire of the vaccinated towards the unvaccinated, whom he blamed for clogging up the province’s hospitals.

Only 10 per cent of the population is unvaccinated but they make up 50 per cent of patients in intensive care beds, according to the premier.

On Tuesday the province reported an increase of 188 patients with COVID-19 for a total of 2,742. Of those, 255 are in intensive care.

Tuesday November 7, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 7, 2017

Paradise Papers Are Another Hit to Justin Trudeau’s ‘Middle Class’ Agenda

There is a storm blowing in from Paradise. Documents leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reaffirmed what most of us already at least suspected: that the wealthiest among us have an elaborate shadow network of financial infrastructure in offshore tax havens to skimp taxes in their home countries. In short, rich people are playing by different rules.

September 22, 2017

The Paradise Papers are noteworthy for two reasons. The first is the magnitude. The leaked documents come from offshore tax firm Appleby, corporate service providers Estera and Asiaciti Trust, and business registries of 19 tax jurisdictions. They concern about $10 trillion (USD) overall, which is quite a lot of money considering that total gross world production for 2014 was about $78 trillion. We are talking about the global high rollers table here.

The second is that they meet CanCon requirements. Over 3,000 Canadians were named in the leaks, and some of them have connections to the commanding heights of the House of Commons. Even our beloved head of state Elizabeth II was named in the papers. Her Majesty’s estate has millions of pounds tied up in a rent-to-buy retailer accused of preying on the poor, which is a shock because the hyperexploitation of unlanded labourers is not something you associate with a feudal monarch.

April 6, 2016

The real meat of the report is how many of our former prime ministers are enmeshed in the financial heart of darkness. Leaked memos reveal Paul Martin’s former company Canada Steamship Lines is one of Appleby’s biggest clients, and Jean Chretien is listed as the owner of 100,000 stock options in an East African oil company ever having a bank account outside of Canada, and says he doesn’t know about the stock options.) And lest anyone suggest this was a Liberal family affair, it turns out that Brian Mulroney sat on the board of the company that facilitated the largest arms deal in British history to Saudi Arabia.

Juicier still than the has-beens on the list is the revelation that Liberal fundraising bigwig Stephen Bronfman has not only amassed nearly $60 million in a shadowy offshore tax haven, and that the law firm representing Bronfman had been instrumental in lobbying the Canadian government against cracking down on overseas tax evasion. Coming on the heels of two months of a taxation trainwreck—and a grueling few weeks exposing just how comfortable Justin Trudeau is with plutocracy—this is not a good look for the prime minister. Again, we reiterate: the optics certainly make it look like the extremely rich people around the federal cabinet table don’t actually have the best interests of the “middle class” at heart. (Source: Vice) 

 

Friday September 22, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 22, 2017

Bill Morneau, Justin Trudeau left untouched by proposed new tax rules

The proposed new small business tax changes do not impact family trusts or numbered companies, used by Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to shield their family’s vast fortunes.

April 6, 2016

Trudeau’s personal wealth, which was inherited from his father, is held in numbered corporations. And Morneau has money in a family trust and numbered corporations.

The NDP took direct aim at Morneau who argued that the Liberals are going after wealthy people who try to use small-business structures to avoid paying taxes, but would not respond to questions about his family businesses and why the new rules leave out the sheltering of funds for both Trudeau and himself.

April 5, 2016

Morneau is the beneficiary of a number of Canadian companies on one hand, and on the other states “we also want to make sure that we do not have a situation where some people that are, frankly, very well compensated, pay a lower tax rate than others,” said Trudeau. (Source: Global News) 

 

 

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