New Transit Funding Sources

[TOareaFan]

I've raised this issue in the past as well. As long as the city zoning by-law maintains a minimum parking standard, I think it's unfair for places to be charged a tax based on those spaces. I've designed quite a few site plans where the minimum parking space rate was significantly higher than what the client felt was needed.

I smell a few lawsuits as well, especially if there's a discrepancy between what the by-law demands and what the owner feels they need.

While a bylaw might require parking....it does not require "free parking". It is likely that the people who will complain the loudest about the parking levy will be owners of large retail centres who will point to the thousands of parking spots they have, how they are required to have those spots and how if you multiply the daily levy by the number of spots they will be out millions a year. Well, they could start charging for parking, no? Many of them compete with, say, the Eaton Centre....can you park there for free? At the Eaton Centre you may just see a slight increase in parking rates as opposed to the owner dipping into their pocket.

 

[gweed123]

While a bylaw might require parking....it does not require "free parking". It is likely that the people who will complain the loudest about the parking levy will be owners of large retail centres who will point to the thousands of parking spots they have, how they are required to have those spots and how if you multiply the daily levy by the number of spots they will be out millions a year. Well, they could start charging for parking, no? Many of them compete with, say, the Eaton Centre....can you park there for free? At the Eaton Centre you may just see a slight increase in parking rates as opposed to the owner dipping into their pocket.

Obviously the big retailers are going to be able to absorb the costs, but if you have a little independent commercial operation that is mandated to provide X number of spots based on the size of their building and the number of employees, regardless of how many spots they actually need, they're going to be charged a certain amount. That cost either has to be absorbed by the business, docked from the employees' pay, or charge the customers for parking.

For example, I did a site plan for a warehouse/retail operation in a suburban area. The majority of their business was online orders, but they wanted a retail showroom. Because of the size of the building, the zoning by-law required 20 more spots than what they thought they needed. Should they have to pay for those 20 extra spots that they made it very clear they don't need or want?

 

[W. K. Lis]

If they implement the parking levy, they should repeal the parking requirements by-laws province wide. Having parking spaces, especially free parking, as a requirement is obsolete. Having requirements for more bicycle parking is better.

See this link on Parking Requirements in the U.S..

 

[gweed123]

If they implement the parking levy, they should repeal the parking requirements by-laws province wide. Having parking spaces, especially free parking, as a requirement is obsolete. Having requirements for more bicycle parking is better.

See this link on Parking Requirements in the U.S..

I agree, and that's ultimately what I think will happen. The parking guidelines will exist solely as a reference tool for developers, instead of a requirement (in the same league as front and side yard setbacks).

 

[TOareaFan]

If they implement the parking levy, they should repeal the parking requirements by-laws province wide. Having parking spaces, especially free parking, as a requirement is obsolete. Having requirements for more bicycle parking is better.

See this link on Parking Requirements in the U.S..

I don't think there is a requirement that parking be free.

 

[nfitz]

Very easy to set the HST tax for the GTA. In the US, the cities have different sales tax along with the region they are in, in the same states. It makes no different if its goods or service.

Sales tax easy enough. How do you deal with sales at Amazon.ca?

What about a lawyers bill (for example) if half their staff working on the job are in London, half the staff in Toronto, their billing is Montreal, and the client is in Ottawa. Currently they charge the Ontario HST. But what would happen then?

The $.25 a day parking charge is a joke and should be $1 at least.

It does seem low for a downtown parking lot. It might be high for a McDonalds in Milton.

 

[gweed123]

What about a lawyers bill (for example) if half their staff working on the job are in London, half the staff in Toronto, their billing is Montreal, and the client is in Ottawa. Currently they charge the Ontario HST. But what would happen then?

I'd love to see Ottawa get the same HST deal as the GTHA if it does get implemented Province-wide. By my calculations, it would be between $150-200 million per year for the City of Ottawa. If implemented starting in 2014, it would pay for the Western LRT extension on it's own. And most future extensions of the LRT would be conversion of the existing Transitway, so Ottawa could easily break it down into ~$300 million projects every couple of years. Realistically, Ottawa wouldn't need much more of a revenue stream than that in order to build a good system.

I'd imagine that K-W and London would be very happy with that same "all revenue raised in this area will stay in this area to build transit" deal as well. Would save a lot of cities the hassle of having to go to the Province and the Feds with hands out asking for money whenever they want to build anything. ~$125 million/year for K-W would do wonders.

And if the stream is guaranteed for 20 years (review after 10, renewal after 20 is what one of the Metrolinx slides said), municipalities like Ottawa, K-W, and London could actually go on a building blitz now, and then use that revenue for the next 20 years to pay down the debt. They of course would need assurances though that that revenue would stay in place for that whole time period.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Sales tax easy enough. How do you deal with sales at Amazon.ca?

...

The same way they deal with the sales tax at Amazon.com, where the buyer is from New York City (8.875%), Niagara county (8.000%), Erie county (8.750%), or Albany county (8.000%), where they are all in New York State.

 

[jje1000]

Predictably...

Business Briefing
Toronto-area consumers face ‘double whammy’ in transit plan: Retailers
Michael Babad
The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, May. 27 2013, 12:32 PM EDT
Last updated Monday, May. 27 2013, 3:27 PM EDT

These are stories Report on Business is following Monday, May 27, 2013.

The Metrolinx proposal to fix Toronto’s transit woes would be a “double whammy” for consumers, hitting them not only through a hike in the harmonized sales tax, but also through parking tax costs passed on by stores, retailers warn.

The Retail Council of Canada warning was referring to a plan by the regional transit agency on how to pay for a massive fix-up in the Toronto area.

As The Globe and Mail’s Oliver Moore reports, the HST would rise by a percentage point, which would likely affect all of Ontario, though only the funds raised in the city would be used to fix the transit system.

The group also proposes a 5 cent hike in gasoline taxes, a non-residential, or business, parking levy of some 25 cents a day per space, and a 15 per cent increase in development charges.

The average family would thus pay some $477 a year to help fund a program that would include new light rapid transit, a subway expansion, and improvements to roads and highways, among other things.

Metrolinx heralded the plan, warning that congestion in Toronto is getting worse all the time, and “having an increasingly negative impact on both our quality of life and our region’s economy.”

The retailers say they agree transit needs to be fixed, but the parking tax recommendation is “flawed” in many ways.

“It would fall disproportionately on retail merchants, relative to other business enterprises,” the group said in a statement today.

“Retailers, in turn, would have little option but to pass these costs on in the form of higher retail prices and these higher prices would affect all purchases of groceries and general merchandise.”

David Wilkes, the group’s senior vice-president, described it as “just another form of property tax” that would affect consumers whether they use public transit, their cars, or simply walk to the store.

“It would be a double whammy for consumers, over and above Metrolinx 1 per cent sales tax increase,” he said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...my-in-transit-plan-retailers/article12165330/

Paraphrased:
"Yes, yes, transit is bad- we'd just prefer not to chip in to pay for the fixes!"

 

[innsertnamehere]

yes, a double whammy of both paying for transit and discouraging car use and suburban planning.

 

[Adjei]

NDP and Tories reject new revenue tools:

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/05/27/tories-ndp-reject-metrolinx-revenue-proposals

 

[SJD_Toronto]

I have the feeling the Metrolinx report is what will send Ontario into an election and if the Tories get into power, I doubt we'll see much progress on the transit front other than extending the Sheppard subway as that's what Tim Hudak wants to do.

 

[rbt]

I have the feeling the Metrolinx report is what will send Ontario into an election and if the Tories get into power, I doubt we'll see much progress on the transit front other than extending the Sheppard subway as that's what Tim Hudak wants to do.

What makes you think they'll extend Sheppard subway? Certainly not in their first term which will be about cutting taxes and the deficit.

 

[Adjei]

What makes you think they'll extend Sheppard subway? Certainly not in their first term which will be about cutting taxes and the deficit.

Yeah I don't even think Sheppard will be extended and even if it will be, it will be extended some distance into the future after you balance the budget and then find money to find transit. The problem with the Tories plan for transit is that it is keeping with the status quo which has worked ooo so fine for the past 30 years.

 

[SJD_Toronto]

What makes you think they'll extend Sheppard subway? Certainly not in their first term which will be about cutting taxes and the deficit.

Tim Hudak has stated that under a PC government, he and his MPPs will make sure subways will be built east in Scarborough aka extending Sheppard to the Scarborough Town Centre. It's merely a political campaign promise as the Tories know they can't win in the heart of Toronto so they'll do what Rob Ford did and promise subways in Scarborough. The Tories will have to pick up seats in the GTA if they want to form a government, even a minority.