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Tag: Doug Ford
License plate stickers in Ontario are destined for the ash heap of history, thanks to the Ford government’s commitment to repeal those pesky annual fees.
Families are facing rampant inflation and soaring living costs. Premier Doug Ford’s announcement will save the typical two-car family $240 a year.
It’s a good first step and now the Ford government needs to deliver much more substantial relief.
Ford made two cornerstone tax cut promises during the 2018 provincial election that could save Ontario families thousands of dollars a year.
Ford promised to cut income taxes for the middle class. That could save a two-income Ontario family about $1,800 a year.
He also promised to cut the gas excise tax. That could save two-car families about $400 a year.
Savings from those two tax cuts alone would amount to over eight times the savings Ontario drivers will receive from the elimination of license plate sticker fees.
Getting rid of sicker fees is a win for taxpayers, but this win just isn’t big enough.
Grocery bills for the typical family are expected to rise by $966 this year over last year. The average price of a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto is up over 11 per cent. Gas is up more than 40 cents a litre. The price for a used car is up 17 per cent. For many struggling families, $240 back in their pockets isn’t going to cut it. Much more extensive relief is needed.
As Ontario enters campaign mode ahead of June’s election, Ford keeps telling Ontarians that they can spend their own money much better than the government can. Ford’s rhetoric suggests he knows that more money belongs back in taxpayers’ wallets.
“The worst place to give your money is the government,” said Ford just weeks ago. “Rather than taxing people non-stop, why don’t we put money back into their pockets to make it more affordable to live?”
Ford should take his own advice.
Every Ontario family could use an extra $2,000 in the bank. That’s how much Ford’s promises are worth – if he keeps them.
With inflation now at the highest levels recorded in over 30 years, taxpayers need hundreds of dollars more in their pockets just to get by. A huge portion of Ford’s promised tax relief would simply allow taxpayers to keep up with inflation.
For a man who talks constantly about the need to leave more money in peoples’ pockets, it’s time for Ford to walk the walk.
Prior to the government’s announcement that it plans to eliminate license plate sticker fees, Ford failed to deliver a single tax cut for individual taxpayers.
Ford cannot expect voters to forget about thousands of dollars in tax cut promises in exchange for saving a couple hundred bucks on license plate stickers.
Ford’s last election platform was a great pro-taxpayer blueprint in 2018, and it remains so in 2022. His proposals are needed even more urgently now than they were four years ago in the wake of sky-high 4.8 per cent inflation.
Ford should dust off the platform he likely hid in his storage closet and use it as a blueprint for this year’s budget and beyond.
It’s time for the Ford government to hand more money back to the people and become the taxpayer champion that it has long pledged to be.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
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The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
After fifteen years of governments pursuing high spending, run-away deficits, and no meaningful tax relief, it’s time for Ontario Premier Doug Ford to think big.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is set to present the Ford government’s pre-election budget next month, which gives his team a chance to set the spending tone as the province heads to a vote.
In the Wynne government’s final budget before facing voters in 2018, former finance minister Charles Sousa rolled out $20 billion in deficit-financed promises to try to win over the support of the province’s voters.
Ford rightly called out the lack of wisdom in Wynne’s big spending financial decisions. Voters handed Ford a strong majority mandate and sent the Wynne Liberals packing.
That was strong signal that people wanted change.
Wynne was not the first political leader to try to buy-off voters by using their own money. Conventional wisdom suggests that governments can improve their chances heading into an election by dangling expensive goodies to win the public’s favour.
That’s what former premier Wynne did in 2018. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did exactly the same thing last year.
But if Ford and Bethlenfalvy are tempted to embark on a spending spree this spring, they should think twice.
Voters elected the current Ontario government because Ford promised to protect taxpayers and bring sanity back to Queen’s Park after well over a decade of financial mismanagement.
And Ford should take decisive action before June’s election.
It’s time for the Ford government to stay true to the pro-taxpayer message that got his team elected in the first place.
After four years of delays, it’s time for Ford to finally deliver on his promised tax cuts.
During the last election, Ford promised voters that he would cut middle class income taxes, lower the gas tax, and provide corporate tax relief.
So far, he’s zero for three and the clock is ticking down.
Ford’s promised income tax cut could save a two-income household up to $1,700 per year. That could help Ontarians desperately trying to pay down their credit card bills after years of pandemic disruptions.
Ford’s promised gas tax cut could save a family filling-up a minivan and a sedan once a week $390 per year. At a time when millions of Ontarians are nearing a financial breaking point, $390 in savings could help cover the cost of groceries for a family of four for about two weeks.
Ford also pledged to cut taxes for Ontario businesses. He said a corporate tax cut would bring jobs back to the province and make Ontario a more attractive place in which to invest.
Two years into the pandemic, businesses need tax relief and reduced red tape now more than ever before.
Media reports have also suggested that Ford is considering ending license plate sticker fees for Ontario drivers. For a family with two cars, that could save $240 every year. With inflation rising rapidly and cost-of-living soaring, families could use the extra cash.
Best of all, this tax relief can be delivered without deepening the deficit.
The government should return non-health sector spending back to pre-pandemic levels. Doing so would save over $10 billion per year, which would more than compensate for any revenue lost by leaving more cash in taxpayers’ wallets.
It’s time for Ford to remember why he was elected in the first place. Voters wanted to end the Liberal spending spree, enjoy tax relief, and bring sanity back the province’s finances. So far, Ford has failed on all fronts, even discounting the impact of the pandemic.
In the government’s March budget, Ford should put all of his chips on the table and bet on tax relief.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
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The collective blood pressure of Ontario taxpayers surged over the weekend as gas prices hit record levels across the province.
In large part, hardworking taxpayers can blame the federal government for soaring costs.
For the first time ever, gas prices in Ontario crossed the $1.50 per litre threshold.
A family that took their minivan and sedan to fill up for the workweek faced a $200 bill.
As the pandemic enters its third year, many families cannot afford such high gas prices. Far too many Ontarians have lost their jobs, seen their hours cut, or were forced to close the doors of their family business.
While governments don’t control the price of oil, they have much more control over gas prices than they let on.
The hard truth politicians don’t want taxpayers to know is that taxes make up a third of the price at the pumps.
When gas prices hit $1.50 per litre in Ontario last week, the actual price of gas, before taxes, was $1.02 per litre.
That’s right: 48 cents gets added to the price of every litre of gas because of taxes in Ontario.
To make matters worse, politicians in Canada are driving gas prices even higher.
While politicians in countries like India and South Korea are cutting gasoline taxes to help struggling taxpayers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to hike taxes for the third time in this pandemic on April 1, increasing the carbon tax from $40 per tonne to $50 per tonne.
That carbon tax increase will mean another 2.2 cents per litre of taxes for drivers at the pumps, bringing the total tax burden for Ontario drivers to 50 cents.
And that’s just the beginning. Trudeau plans to hike the carbon tax all the way to $170 per tonne by 2030.
Today, the carbon tax costs drivers 8.8 cents per litre of gasoline. By 2030, it will be costing drivers 37 cents.
The Trudeau government is also bringing in new fuel regulations that are essentially a second carbon tax. That will drive the cost of gas up by a further 11 cents.
If the federal carbon tax were to be fully in place today, drivers would feel their blood pressure spike even higher, with the cost per litre hitting $1.90.
Thanks to the Trudeau plan, by 2030 gas prices will be at least 27 per cent higher than they are today.
That means the same family filling up their sedan and minivan for the workweek will be facing a bill of over $250. Lower- and middle-income families can’t afford to be spending over $1,000 a month to fill up their cars just to drive to work, drop their kids off at school, and get to hockey practice.
And, of course, gas receipts aren’t the only place families are seeing higher prices. With high gas and carbon taxes driving up the cost of shipping, nearly everything is getting more expensive, including weekly bills at the grocery store.
As Ontarians desperately look for relief at the pumps, Premier Doug Ford has a political opening.
Ontarians have been waiting for four years for Ford to deliver on his promise to cut gas taxes by 5.7 cents per litre, which could save Ontario families $400 per year.
With hardworking taxpayers facing the prospect of eight more years of Trudeau carbon tax hikes, Ontarians desperately need tax relief at the pumps.
Ford has called the carbon tax “the single worst tax on the backs of Canadians that’s ever existed.”
Ford isn’t wrong. But before he can bill himself as a taxpayer crusader, Ford needs to deliver on his own promise to lower Ontarians’ gas prices.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
This content is restricted to subscribers
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
This content is restricted to subscribers
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
