theflyingsquirrel
New Member
I'm surprised he went ahead with reducing (though not eliminating) the land transfer tax while axing or contracting out thousands of good jobs (not gravy) and cutting city services.
You need to first understand one's believe. Ford believes in helping those people who are really trying to make a life here in Toronto by working hard and establish themseleves in here.
Land transfer tax and high property tax is bad for the city because it will shift the income by moving those people who want to buy south of steeles to buy north of steeles. The property tax will go to markham instead of toronto. If I am a investor, why should I buy in toronto if I can make more money in Markham? If I am a landlord and renting out my house, I would like to have positive cash flow by having lower property tax. Look at all the shopping malls in toronto vs markham. We are paying 3.36% vs around 2% commercial property tax. Some landlords are losing money here in toronto because of the mill rate and the practice of how MPAC assess properties.
I agree with him that the city has a big spending problem. Outsourcing the city job is a good step because most city workers are protected by unions and union is stopping our society from progressing.
There is a big difference between private corp and government.
In private corp, people get rewarded by spending less and being more producive. People need to account for how they spend the money.
In government, people get rewarded by spending more money and being less productive. (If you save money this year, you will get less budget next year. So you have to spend more to keep your budget.) The top management in ORANGE for instance do not need to disclose their salaries which is estiamated to be more than 300k per year! Do you still think we should not outsource?
City servies are being abused. For instance library, DVD and video tapes "borrowing" actually contribute to the closure of blockbuster.
The city services are good if we have it, but it is ok to not have it too.
It is just like the land transfer tax. People hate it when it was introduced, but after a while, we get used to it. Same idea.
Not all people who drive are rich. Sometimes, people drive because they have no choice. For instance, when I pay for the vehicle registration tax, there was an old coupon crying there when they know they need to pay for the $60 per year. They do not drive much, but they do need to drive sometimes to get to places. I feel sorry for them.To not consider reinstating the vehicle registration tax or replace it with some sort of highway tolling/congestion tax is madness.
Think about this. When you are young, you can choose to save money; do some investment and prepare for your retirement. You can also choose to spend all the money and leave yourself with no money for retirement. You will then need all the money from government (tax payers) to support you when you get old and will start complaining how government give tax breaks to those who work hard when they are young and forget about how you enjoy your life instead of working hard when you were younger. People have really selective memory. So which kind of people deserve a break?
We should learn to be responsible for ourselves. Other people are not responsible for your life, but ourselves.
I remember I read this on the cover of the magazine.
"The reason problem are not the rich, but the poor." Rich people as a matter of fact are usually generous. They donate quite a lot of money back to the community. How about the poor? They take drugs and tent in a public place and leave the city with the burden to clean up after them. Do you think they are responsible to what they did?
If they are, then at least they would clean up when they leave.