Op-Eds
Published in the Globe and Mail on October 15, 2012
By Benjamin Dachis
Having a hard time finding a house to buy in Toronto? The city’s Land Transfer Tax (LTT) is part of the reason. The LTT has made Toronto’s tight real estate market tighter, driving a wedge between the price you can afford to pay and the minimum price a seller is willing to accept.
Worse, an LTT may spread to other cities in the province. Mississauga’s budget committee recently passed a motion requesting that the province amend the Municipal Act to give municipalities other than Toronto the authority to levy LTTs of their own. Although Mississauga’s council decided to defer the motion, the debate on the LTT is very much alive.
Why…
Publié dans La Presse le 1 Septembre, 2012
Par Alexandre Laurin
S'il est élu, le Parti québécois prévoit ajouter deux nouveaux paliers d'imposition sur le revenu des contribuables les plus fortunés. Ceux-ci verraient leur taux d'impôt marginal dépasser le cap des 50%. Ces mesures sont populaires, donc peu de politiciens oseront en débattre. Dommage, car ces fortes hausses d'impôt seraient néfastes pour l'assiette fiscale et l'économie québécoise.
À court terme, les hausses amèneraient bien peu de nouvelles recettes, et bien moins que les 950 millions prévus. À plus long terme, ces mesures finiraient par coûter cher à la société québécoise. Pour les finances publiques, l'impact ne serait pas trop grand: l'…
Published in the National Post on July 6, 2012
By Benjamin Dachis
Toronto’s “OneCity” plan, which city councillors will debate on July 11th, could be a move in the right direction. OneCity’s proponents propose a new transit network, financed by equal federal, provincial and municipal contributions.
The proposal sees the municipal share coming by capturing a share of a larger assessment pie as housing values presumably increase.
OneCity’s proponents should modify their revenue plan to better target those who benefit from transit expansion with those who pay for it. Without a change to the plan that better targets the tax increase to areas where transit expands, voters and city councillors from areas…
Published in the Globe and Mail on March 30, 2012
By William Robson and Alexandre Laurin
Since Jim Flaherty became federal Finance Minister in 2006, circumstances have forced a series of budget improvisations. The 2008 financial crisis and the slump in 2009 put the minority Conservative government in lend-and-spend mode, and the fiscal aftermath and the continuing need to appease multiple interests have shaped Ottawa’s fiscal plans ever since. With the economy on the mend and a majority government in a position to get things done, expectations were high that the 2012 budget would chart a new course.
The budget does contain some key initiatives, with at least one – the changes to seniors’ income supports – being…
Published in the Financial Post on March 28, 2012
By Colin Busby and Alexandre Laurin
Ontario’s controversial deficit-cutting budget, tabled Tuesday, will be passed around like a political hot potato by opposition parties at Queen’s Park. Should it get enough votes to pass parliament, it would sprinkle cost-cutting measures across provincial programs, freeze planned reductions in corporate income taxes, and reduce the likelihood of higher taxpayer contributions to public-sector pension plans, among many other initiatives.
The 2012 budget was highly anticipated by a public eager to see how the province would respond to the Drummond commission report to reform Ontario’s public services. And the province’s credit…
