A 2% cut on those making 50-75k that was proposed doesn't sound that bad. Ontario has some income tax room with the $150k and $220k brackets since 2014. Inflation has been 30% since then.
Ontario is running a deficit.
Those on Ontario Works (Social Assistance) get a mere $733 per month to cover all their expenses and got no inflationary increase this year.
The wait list for a Long Term Care bed is more than 2 years long.
TDSB schools are literally crumbling due to under investment, with perhaps 2 dozen 'prohibitive to repair', dozens lack air conditioning and many more aren't fully accessible.
Ontario contributes virtually nothing to the construction of deeply affordable housing, which is desperately needed.
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In light of the above, and coming off a period of:
- Eliminating income tax for those making less than 50k.
- Eliminating license plate fees, saving most middle-income households $200 per year.
- Record low corporate and small business taxes
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I find it very difficult to imagine that the logical priority of any Ontario government should be a further tax reduction.
I would argue strongly for an increase in the sales tax of 2 points to 15% to allow for investing in some of the areas I noted above.
We require about 4B a year to achieve budgetary balance.
Schools (primary/secondary) require at least 1.5B annually in new capital investment).
Reduced class sizes in middle school grades would cost another 1B+ per year.
Universities and Colleges need another 1.5B per year, to see the same level of per capita support as other provinces, and stop the financial hemorrhaging.
Raising Social Assistance rates, and reducing the poverty trap when someone on assistance gets a job is a 3B per year investment.
Long Term Care in Toronto needs 100M per year for construction of new beds.
Hospitals need another 1B per year in base budget just to address wait times for existing, covered procedures.
Modestly expanded health coverage for drugs, physio therapy and medical devices would run another 2B per year.
That's 14B per year and change which is 6B more than the sale tax increase would likely generate.
Just sayin.