Toronto says it’s facing $46.5 billion in budget pressures over the next decade and wants the province to grant it permission to charge a sales tax within its borders as part of slew of measures to tackle the “unprecedented financial crisis.”
The recommendation to pursue a municipal sales tax was included in a sharply worded 192-page staff report released Thursday that paints a dire picture for the city’s fiscal future without significant new revenue tools and additional assistance from the province and Ottawa.
The report also details measures the city could quickly pursue under its own authority, such as progressively higher rates of land-transfer tax on homes that sell for more than $3 million and increasing the existing vacant homes tax from one to three per cent, both campaign pledges of Mayor Olivia Chow.
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