Comment 89294

By Noted (anonymous) | Posted June 04, 2013 at 08:14:31

It reads like a manual on how to make people feel more overburdened, without actually increasing their burden that much.

Running the gamut from a reintroduction of photo radar to an expansion of red-light cameras to a new surcharge on telephone bills, the new “non-tax revenues” proposed in a Treasury Board document unearthed Monday by the opposition Progressive Conservatives are practically a populist parody of the way a cash-strapped government might nickel and dime Ontarians. In return for the inevitable backlash, implementing all eight such proposals would bring in “up to $167.7-million” annually, which would be enough to have only a very limited impact on a provincial deficit hovering around $10-billion.

Although none of these measures were actually included in the budget tabled last month by Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals, the fact they were under consideration – and, notwithstanding the distaste for photo radar expressed by Finance Minister Charles Sousa, remain on the table – speaks to the province’s uncomfortable relationship with revenue as it seeks to get back to balance....

There is some irony in the likelihood that such ideas were sought as a result of the Liberals’ belief that the public is not ready for more serious discussions about how revenues fit into the province’s fiscal future. Because the more that Ontarians are given the impression that politicians want to reach into their pockets at every opportunity, the less ready they’ll ever be.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/radwanski-ontario-liberals-open-the-door-to-the-wrong-kind-of-revenues/article12327259/

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