Wynne says no hike in gas tax, HST or income tax on middle class to fund transit
by Keith Leslie,the Canadian Press
The government will announce how it intends to raise the billions of dollars needed for public transit in the spring budget
TORONTO—Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne took steps to avoid a spring election by promising not to raise taxes on the middle class to fund public transit.
“I just want to be clear, we’re taking those potential revenue tools off the table: increase in HST, increase in gas tax, increases in personal income tax for middle-income families,” Wynne said in Toronto.
Wynne has vowed to find the “revenue tools” to raise the billions of dollars needed each year to upgrade and expand public transit in the heavily congested Toronto-to-Hamilton corridor, and an expert panel recommended several tax hikes as options.
The NDP had warned they would not support any moves to increase taxes on the middle class, but would not say if Wynne’s promise was enough to get them to vote for the Liberal’s upcoming budget and avoid a spring election.
“We’re skeptical of the fact that this is another Liberal promise and we’ve seen many of their promises made and then broken,” said New Democrat Jagmeet Singh. “We look at it with a grain of salt.”
Wynne dismissed suggestions she was trying to secure NDP support for the budget for the third year in a row by saying she won’t hike taxes on the middle class.
“This isn’t about one party’s perspective,” she said. “I’m not talking to the NDP. I’m talking to families and individuals who are working very hard to make sure that they have the kind of life that they deserve.”
The Progressive Conservatives, who have been warning voters that Wynne is planning to hike the gas tax 10 cents a litre to fund transit, said the Liberals promise one thing as an election approaches and then do the opposite afterwards.
“We’ve heard from the Liberal government before, no new taxes, and we ended up with the health tax and we ended up with the HST,” said PC finance critic Vic Fedeli. “This is all about electioneering and trying to get her budget passed by buying off the support of the NDP.”
It was the Tories “making mischief” about the gas tax and the HST that Wynne said prompted her to make the announcement about what the government would not do.
“The focus on HST and gas tax has been a decision made by the Opposition, a very targeted decision over the last couple of weeks,” she said.
Wynne had earlier eliminated the idea of raising property taxes to fund transit, and suggested she would not increase corporate taxes either, but left the door open to new road tolls. The Liberals have already said they would proceed with letting drivers without passengers pay a toll to use High Occupancy Vehicle lanes.
The government will announce how it intends to raise the billions of dollars needed for public transit in the spring budget, and would create a new fund for infrastructure projects so people can see where and how the money is spent, added Wynne.
