Mayor Marolyn Morrison — Fuel tax or sales tax increase for Metrolinx must be province-wide

May 22, 2013 · 0 Comments

Last week, Town of Caledon council received a report on the recommendations of the short-listed revenue generation tools being considered by Metrolinx to fund the transportation infrastructure needs of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Town of Caledon staff recommended five of the 11 revenue tools in their report.
After lengthy discussion, council agreed to support only two of the five recommendations put forward by staff; a province-wide fuel tax and a province-wide sales tax increase.
Council’s qualification was that these new taxes must be transparently and fully dedicated to transportation infrastructure and, while necessary for the economic future of the GTA, they would not assist the Town in managing its transportation infrastructure deficit.
Although Metrolinx is considering a Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) fuel and sales tax increase, the Town of Caledon only supports province-wide taxes where a portion of the tax revenues would be allocated to Metrolinx and the balance would be re-distributed to all municipalities in Ontario to support transportation infrastructure.
A regional or Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area-specific fuel or sales tax to support Metrolinx could be detrimental to the outlying municipalities in the GTHA by encouraging the purchase of gasoline, products, and services “outside” of GTHA municipalities.
The Town has forwarded council’s recommendations, resolution and a copy of the staff report to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Metrolinx and the Greater Toronto Countryside Mayors Alliance, however, as mentioned, commenting just on the revenue generation tools does not contribute to the resolution of the current transportation issues facing Caledon. Council has requested that the Province provide a clear commitment to resolving other transportation infrastructure issues for the Town of Caledon and other, similar predominantly rural municipalities. A portion of the revenue from any tax dedicated to transportation infrastructure must be shared with all Ontario municipalities in order to assist in the equitable rebuilding of our collective, economic futures.
You can view the Caledon staff report at http://www.caledon.ca/en/townhall/resources/CS-2013-043.pdf