Council doesn't endorse any transit tax, Rob Ford claims victory [Video]

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TORONTO?-?

Mayor Rob Ford claimed victory Thursday as council voted with him to tell the province they reject 14 proposed transit taxes.

Ford high-fived his allies after the two hour-long voting process wrapped up and council didn?t end up specifically endorsing any Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area ?revenue tools? to fund transit construction.

?I feel fantastic. We fended off the wolves today and saved the taxpayers at least $1,000 a household and I couldn?t be happier,? Ford said immediately after the vote. ?This is one of the greatest days in Toronto?s history right now.?

?We have to tell these people we can?t just increase taxes. People have had enough and I?m glad that council has listened to us,? he added.

Ford didn?t hold back from sending a message to Premier Kathleen Wynne who has been pushing ?revenue tools? to solve the region?s transit woes.

?I?d advise her not to even talk about revenue tools anymore,? he said. ?Let?s get on to finding efficiencies and saving taxpayers? money instead of increasing taxes.?

Just before the vote, Ford encouraged councillors not to support any new taxes and said the debate ? which he fought unsuccessfully to stop earlier this week ? is ?absolutely wrong.?

?Do not support any of this,? Ford said. ?It is going to hurt your constituents more than ever.?

Council ended up voting in favour of Councillor Josh Colle?s motion to take out any reference in the staff report to any revenue tools they support. After a flurry of votes, they ended up rejecting 13 revenue tools including a car tax, highway tolls, a fuel tax, a parking levy and high occupancy tolls lanes.

A majority of councillors did refuse to specifically reject a sales tax or development charges as a way to fund transit ? but they didn?t endorse it either.

Councillors also supported a push by Councillors Glenn De Baeremaeker and Michelle Berardinetti to support extending the Bloor-Danforth subway line from Kennedy station through the Scarborough Town Centre to Sheppard Ave. That plan runs contrary to the Transit City plan council approved last year to replace the Scarborough RT with an LRT.

Thursday?s vote came after two days of debate and several heated speeches.

Before the vote, Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon urged councillors to ?get a backbone? and support ?revenue tools.?

?How the hell else are we going to pay for transit?? McMahon asked. ?Get in the real world, folks.?

After the vote, McMahon admitted she was disappointed in the vote but believes some progress was made. She compared council?s behaviour to a kindergarten class but then said that?s insulting to kindergarten students.

Councillor Adam Vaughan denied Ford won anything Thursday and argued the vote tells the province a sales tax and development charges are ?acceptable revenue tools.?

?We achieved getting the revenue tools here ... and it is up to the province now to decide what other revenue tools to put in place,? Vaughan said.

?The mayor didn?t want to have this debate.?

TTC chairman Karen Stintz laughed off Ford?s claim the vote sends a message to Wynne to stop the revenue tools talk.

?I think the message that we sent was we believe in the Metrolinx plan, we believe in building regional transit,? she said. ?Ultimately Metrolinx is going to make a decision with the input that we?ve given them and the input is that there was a number of measures that we felt weren?t in the interest of Toronto.?

Councillor Janet Davis said the vote ?doesn?t send a clear message at all.?

?I think the message from council today was very confused,? she said. ?I think it is sad actually.?

A Metrolinx spokesman said they will be reviewing council?s advice and presenting its investment strategy to the board of directors on May 27.

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Here?s what council decided during Thursday?s transit tax debate:

Council didn?t reject or endorse these regional revenue tools:

1. sales tax
2. development charges

Council urges the province to reject these revenue tools:

1. congestion levy
2. employer payroll tax
3. land transfer tax
4. land value capture
5. personal income tax
6. property tax
7. transit fare hike
8. utility bill levy
9. fuel tax
10. parking levy
11. high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes
12. highway tolls or other road pricing
13. car tax

Council refused to support:

• Councillor Adam Vaughan?s motion for a 1% province-wide sales tax to fund transit

Council said it does not support:

?

And on transit lines:

1. The Scarborough subway lives? Council voted in favour of extending the Bloor-Danforth subway from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre and north to Sheppard Ave.
2. Sheppard West? Council asked that the North York Relief Line (an extension of the Sheppard subway from Yonge St. to Allen Rd.) be given a ?substantive project priority? for the next phase of Metrolinx funding

Councillors had advice for other levels of government:

1. They asked the federal government to lower the income tax rate for GTHA residents if regional transit taxes are imposed.
2. They asked the province not to impose any new transit taxes until the mayor has a seat on the Metrolinx board and the province funds 50% of transit costs
3. They asked that the province give 25% of any transit taxes revenue to the city for local projects.

Did council make the right decision not to endorse any transit taxes?

Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2013/05/09/council-doesnt-endorse-any-transit-tax-rob-ford-claims-victory

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