TORONTO – In full pandemic, after two disastrous years for everyone from a financial point of view, the City of Toronto increases property taxes by 4.4%. The City had announced it and the Budget Committee reiterated it today, unanimously, in view of the approval by the city council, scheduled for next February 17. A sort of “coup de grace” that the administration led by Mayor John Tory (in the pic above, from his Twitter profile) is about to inflict on the inhabitants of Toronto, now economically in agony after two years spent in the grip of Covid-19.

Two years in which families have had to face two emergencies: the health one, obviously, but also the financial one. Many people have lost their jobs, others have suffered a sharp reduction in income from extra activities such as renting houses to students or off-site workers – with the pandemic, entries in Canada have plummeted to historic lows -, still others have had to close their businesses (bars, restaurants, shops) for long periods and some have not even reopened. And in any case, all families, without exception, had to face numerous expenses that had never appeared in the family budget before the arrival of Covid-19: the purchase of masks, hand sanitizers, Covid-tests, equipment hardware and software to be able to work from home or to connect children with the school for distance learning, just to name some examples.

Despite all this, the Municipality is moving forward with its purpose. The 2022 Budget will bring an increase in the residential property tax of 2.9% and an increase in the city building fund of 1.5% which translates into an increase of 4.4%, i.e. an average increase property tax of $ 141.

Budget Chief Gary Crawford said the tax bill contains the “promise” to keep property taxes at or below the inflation rate while preserving services and investing in additional resources, for example more paramedics. But it is difficult to justify such an increase in taxes by the Municipality with any “health costs” incurred or to be incurred due to the Covid emergency, given that health – including costs – is the responsibility of the Province. On the contrary: it is more likely that the Municipality, “thanks” to the pandemic, has saved money since various activities and many services have been suspended during the various lockdowns and for the restrictions decided to contain the pandemic.

But the Tory administration mourns misery and, after putting its hands in the pockets of the citizens of Toronto, will look to the provincial and federal governments to help fill the $ 1.4 billion gap for the TTC which is losing about $ 500,000 per year due to collapsing passenger revenue, Crawford said.

“No one has committed to that yet, but we hope so (by February 17) – he said -. After that, we will have to start making some serious decisions and cut back on our work … road maintenance could be hit again if we don’t get this money”. Roads that, in the meantime, are still waiting to be completely cleared of the snow that fell three weeks ago…