Premier vows not to tax transit
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Ahead of an expected spring election — Premier Wynne seems to have changed her mind when it comes to hiking taxes to fund public transit in the Toronto-to-Hamilton area. But the opposition says the premier’s reversal shouldn’t be believed.
As the premier prepares to unveil her budget in the next few weeks, she made a major announcement about transit funding, which critics say is an attempt to avoid a spring election.
Kathleen Wynne made the announcement during a campaign-style stop at a home in Toronto Thursday morning. Wynne said she knows how hard it is for families to make ends meet, but said congestion and traffic come at a cost to us all. So Ontario will move forward and build new transit, and new and expanded highways, roads and bridges — which Wynne says is essential to the province’s economic growth. “We will move forward on these investments, and at the same time protect middle income taxpayers and families from the cost of that investment. To be clear, our transit plan will not include transit increase in the gas tax, HST or income taxes on middle families or individuals.”
Wynne didn’t say how her government intends to raise the billions of dollars to update and expand public transit. She says those details will be revealed in the upcoming budget.
But Ontario’s parties say a pledge from Premier Wynne not to hike the gas tax or the HST cannot be believed.
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath stopped by CHCH studios Thursday afternoon and responded to the Wynne announcement: “For months and months and months, Ms. Wynne has been saying clearly that she was looking for new revenue tools including taxes, tolls and fees and today she is kind of in a scramble to back away from a very unpopular idea. So I really don’t know what her idea is or what her plans are. I don’t know whether she will be bringing them in a budget or in another way.”
And Horwath isn’t the only one who’s skeptical. Progressive Conservative finance critic Vic Fedeli calls Wynne’s pledge a ‘pre-election mirage’.
So they, like the voters, will have to wait until the budget comes down to learn how the premier plans to fund the transit project.
