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The Star: Toronto a suburb? It's begun

Of course the 905 will be growing faster, population and employment wise. It's ridiculous to think otherwise or that this is any cause for concern.

It was an interesting quote regarding the tax base. So in summary, taxes are only part of the problem Glen?

I don't think the city can address the other aspects no matter what it does though, thoughts?
 
taal said:
Of course the 905 will be growing faster, population and employment wise. It's ridiculous to think otherwise or that this is any cause for concern.

It was an interesting quote regarding the tax base. So in summary, taxes are only part of the problem Glen?

I don't think the city can address the other aspects no matter what it does though, thoughts?
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What the note is referring to is that the tax differential is artificially stimulating the transfer, or growth, of employment outside of Toronto. It is natural that in urban areas there is different levels of growth.
 
Glen said:
What the note is referring to is that the tax differential is artificially stimulating the transfer, or growth, of employment outside of Toronto. It is natural that in urban areas there is different levels of growth.
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Ah okay, so it is the source of all the problems then?

i.e. are there other things the city can do or other things they're not doing now that are also contributing to the problem.
 
taal said:
Ah okay, so it is the source of all the problems then?

i.e. are there other things the city can do or other things they're not doing now that are also contributing to the problem.
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It is not the only problem. I don't think anyone has ever said that it is, certainly not me. I do think that it is the major one though. It is like having contaminated soil. No matter what you would like to plant, it is not going to grow.
 
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/04/19/9161821-sun.html

It's the end of the line for George's Trains -- at least on Mount Pleasant Rd.

The model train store near Davisville Ave. recently announced it was closing after almost 50 years in business because it was just getting too expensive to keep shop there.

"The rising overhead (costs) are getting to be too much in the area," store president Richard Olieux said yesterday. "We're slated for another property tax increase and they're putting a business improvement association on this street, which would cost us another $3,000 to $4,000."

The future of George's Trains lies in the 905. All the stock is being moved to a Markham location on Alden Rd. built two years ago.

The space at 510 Mount Pleasant has always been a place to buy model trains and equipment since 1947, but was known as Bob's Toy Trains, where Olieux's father, George, repaired the models.
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^ Sad news indeed. Even though they're moving a lot closer to my house, I fear that the store is going to be lost in the middle of the office/industrial parks in the area, not at the more prominent location on Mount Pleasant where it used to be.

I'd like to see a "flagship" George's Train store at the John Street Roundhouse, as part of the railway museum.
 
One imagines that the Mount Pleasant area rents, which are unmentioned in the Sun article, might also be more expensive than in Markham. A highly specialized, well-known store such as this has less of a need to be in a walkable, just drop in kind of neighborhood, since it's so clearly a destination in itself. Though the article focusses on taxes (it's in the Sun) I would tend to assume there are many factors at play in this decision to relocate.

When I cycle around the city, I see few vacant storefronts, from independently owned little corner stores to clothese stores, lining all our major streets. Clearly, the tax burden stated in this article is not making those other businesses move to Markham.

When Markham has a Four Seasons, Ritz, Shangri-La and many other hotels under construction, I'll worry more about the tax differentials within the GTA.
 
As I understand it, from talking to one of the Olieux family who lives near me, George's Trains does considerably more business at their Markham location.
 
Ah, crap! :(

I loved walking by that place on my way to and from my house (I used to have quite a model train setup as a kid). I can even see the store's sign from my living room. I have to say though, I'm not surprised. That whole Mount Pleasant strip is undergoing something of a generational turnover, with many of the antique shops and boutiques going under. I'm not quite sure what will take their place (hence the need for the BIA), but it won't seem the same without George's. I'm also noticing the demographics in the area, lots of new toddlers sprouting everywhere, and I doubt their dads are into model trains. Wii and such things would be more likely.
 
one would imagine that you don't do more business in toronto. All your clientele already exists. No one is buying model train systems for their 800 sq ft condo :)

Lots of new housing in markham and surrounding... lots of new business.

Perhaps easier for commuters to get to as well being near the 427?
 
It is interesting to note that the BoT findings highlight the most of the same issues that the city's own 9 year old Toronto Competes report does.
 
MisterF said:
Not true. Toronto has 47,600 fewer jobs than at the peak in 1989. In 2008 the city had 1,309,300 jobs. Nearly all of the losses were in the early 90s, and there has been near constant job growth since 1996 (there was a dip after 2000).
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That reminds me of this story. It seems that the only appreciable growth in jobs and the commercial assessment over the last twenty years happened during the time when the province cut the education portion of the property tax. Not surprising that the tax reduction increased assessment values to the point of being revenue positive. Demonstrating that Toronto's rates are on the far right of the Laffer curve.

But something quite astonishing happened when taxes did fall. Between 1998 and 2000, a period when assessments were frozen, the Business Education Tax rate in Toronto fell about 10 per cent -- equivalent to a 5-per-cent cut in overall business taxes. But when Ontario properties were revalued in 2001, it turned out that commercial assessments in Toronto had increased by about 40 per cent.

By comparison, commercial assessments in the rest of Ontario, without the benefit of steep BET cuts, only increased 14 per cent over the same time period.

Even if the Toronto tax cuts were responsible only for a fraction of the huge gain in property values, they were self-financing -- just as supply-side theory predicts.

Over the same two-year period, Toronto gained an impressive 100,000 new jobs -- the sharpest growth in employment since the mid-1980s. Was that a coincidence? I don't think so. Nor does coincidence seem to explain why employment immediately levelled off and began to decline when the tax cuts stopped.
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Until I see some kind of study that investigates how decisions are made and relates the two, then all I see is two phenomenon that occurred at the same time. It's junk science to assume causality.

And astonishing to hear a defence of supply side economics in 2009. If SS worked, then the USA would be booming right now.
 
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