Ontario's finance minister cool to idea of municipal sales taxes

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Peter Bethlenfalvy says the provincial government is 'not in favour' of tax increases after Toronto city staff floated the idea of creating its own municipal sales tax whichh would be charged separately from the harmonized sales tax.

Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy appeared cool to the idea of sharing revenue from the sales tax revenue with municipalities when he was asked about it at a conference in London this week.

During a question and answer session with civic politicians, the minister was asked about the possibility of providing revenue from the harmonized sales tax to municipalities across the province. The question came after Toronto city staff floated the idea creating its own municipal sales tax, which would be applied separately from the HST but would require sign off from Premier Doug Ford's government."As you know, our government is not in favour of tax increases. There may be a time.

Mayor Olivia Chow's office did not immediately comment on the minister's remarks. Her newly-formed executive committee is preparing to debate the new "revenue tools" at a meeting Thursday. "It's up to the provincial and the federal government to say, 'Yeah, we think we'll pick that,'" she said. "We don't want to be prescriptive."Asked last week if the province would allow the city to levy a sales tax, a spokesperson for the premier's office did not answer directly.

The document paints a dire picture of the city's financial future without significant new revenue tools and additional assistance from the province and Ottawa as it tries to dig out from the COVID-19 pandemic. The city faces an "unprecedented financial crisis" that if left unaddressed threatens its fiscal foundations, the report said.

 

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