Kathleen wynne Rejects Increase In Gas Tax Or HST To Fund Transit

The Ontario government is once again backing down from ideas to fund the Metrolinx expansion in the Toronto and Hamilton area’s.

Last summer they announced a plan to create tolled “Car pool lanes” on highways to generate the needed funds. This idea was quickly shot down by the public. Then the discussion about an increase in gas taxes and/or the HST started to be discussed. But Wynne has now rejected those tax increases as a funding mechanism for Metrolinx. Stating that the plan to raise the billions of dollars for the Metrolinx expansion will be released in the next budget.

It would seem that schemes to pay for the transit expansion are just being thrown out to the public to gauge reactions. Metrolinx has a clearly laid out 10 different options for funding their projects. We covered the Metrolinx “big conversation” meeting that discussed the funding options.

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Although it was only briefly discussed, Metrolinx has a list of idea’s for funding.

- Parking Space Levy (A daily levy is charged to a property owner
based on the amount of non-residential offstreet parking spaces owned.)
- Increase in Property Tax
- Increase in Sales Tax
- Vehicle Kilometres Travelled (VKT) Fee (Motorists would pay a charge for every
kilometre that they travel within a designated area or in all areas. A driver’s VKT is tracked through odometer readings.)
- Vehicle Registration Tax
- Road Tolls
- Payroll Tax
- Land Value Capture (a type of public financing that recovers some or all of the value that public infrastructure generates for private landowners)
Source: bigmove.ca

Every option is a new tax or increase in tax’s. Despite Wynne’s government assertions that taxes are not going to be increased.

With outrage shown towards plans that will see the whole province paying for transit in the Toronto and Hamilton area. Wynne has stated “The government is not going to ask the people of North Bay to fund public transit in the Greater Toronto Area”.

Which would mean a new kind of tax for Canada. Not a federal, provincial, or municipal tax, but a regional tax. Both taxation and transportation are central foundation pieces of regional governance.

Never heard of regional governance? You will be hearing more and more of it in the coming years. Regionalization of governance is a key element of the sustainable development plan that is laid out in United Nations Agenda 21.

Here is an example of the megaregions being laid out by an organization called america2050.org

Upgrades to our infrastructure are badly needed. But at what cost? Are you willing to let go of our sovereignty and be taxed more, to have improved transit?