Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is breaking down what the money from her nearly seven per cent tax hike for homeowners will be used for, amid criticism from some residents who think it’s a steep increase.
Chow sat down with Now Toronto on Thursday to discuss her proposed $18.8 billion 2025 budget, which includes increasing taxes by 6.9 per cent for homeowners.
The levy hike includes a 5.4 per cent property tax increase, and the annual 1.5 per cent city building fund tax that began in 2016 and supports major infrastructure projects across the city.
Chow says this tax increase will cost the average homeowner $5.25 a week or $268 a year.
However, her proposed hike was met with some skepticism from online users.
“6.9 % increase is too high a price,” one X user said.
“Way to make life even more unaffordable for people,” another user said.
“Another nail in the coffin for homeowners. You’re just driving working families out of the city,” another X user said.
READ MORE: https://nowtoronto.com/news/toronto-2025-budget-could-mean-a-tax-increase/
But what will this extra money go towards exactly? Chow broke it down for Now Toronto.
BREAKDOWN OF WHAT THE 6.9% TAX INCREASE WILL BE USED FOR
She says two per cent of the 6.9 per cent increase will go towards the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), which equates to $85 million.
Meanwhile, $45 million would be given to the Toronto Police Services, which accounts for another one per cent, Chow says.
Another one per cent will go towards salary increases for both the TTC and police, Chow added.
“The police said that they have to hire more officers because they’re retiring and our city is growing, and their salary went to arbitration, went up by five per cent,” she said.
“TTC workers, you don’t want a strike, right? So, we had to give them a bit of a salary increase,” she added.
As for the remaining 2.9 per cent, Chow said it will support fixing and maintaining roads and other resources, including community centres, libraries, art programs and shelters.
“We have 6,000 refugees in our shelters. Guess who pays? Property tax, OK? We have 11,000 people living in our shelters. Half of them are newcomers from different parts of the world, and you can’t, when you first arrive, where are you going to live? So, they knock on the City of Toronto’s door, and they say, ‘We need a place,’” she said, while adding that the city is in the process of creating six new shelters with 80 beds each.
Chow noted that there are property tax relief programs available for low-income seniors and residents living with a disability, which city staff said have supported over 10,000 households.
Also included in Chow’s proposed budget is a base property tax increase of 2.7 per cent for multi-residential properties, 2.7 per cent for commercial properties, and 5.4 per cent for industrial properties.
Next week, the city will be hosting public consultations and telephone townhalls where residents can weigh in on the proposed budget, before Chow releases her final version of the 2025 budget by Feb. 1. A special city council meeting is set for Feb. 11 where council members will vote to approve the budget.
