Gaps in opponents’ budget proposals an unexplained “X-File”
Toronto – Mitzie Hunter says her only her “Three & Six” tax plan is the fair, transparent and realistic plan needed to fund Toronto’s revival.
“I put my plan out there before voting started so people who support me know exactly what they are getting,” says Hunter. “My “Three & Six” tax plan is fair, transparent and realistic and funds our city’s revival.”
In contrast, Olivia Chow and the other candidates can’t say or won’t say how they will fill Toronto’s fiscal hole.
“The truth is out there but it would take Mulder and Skully to unravel these X-Files,” says Hunter.
“It remains unexplained how the other candidates have conjured their budget numbers and how they will pay for their promises.”
Hunter’s “Three & Six” tax plan breaks down this way: a general six-per-centproperty tax increase -- $216 per year for an average home – which will be reduced to three per cent -- a $108-per-year increase -- for households with income under $80,000.
In addition, Hunter’s plan provides additional protections for moderate- and lower-income seniors, which will allow more than half of all seniors to pay no property tax increase at all.
“My ‘Three and Six’ plan is fair and transparent,” says Hunter. “It’s also progressive, which means those that can afford it will pay a little more. Moderate- and lower-income homeowners will pay less.”
In contrast, all the other main candidates are inviting the people of Toronto and X-File and the “X” stands for “unknown” as the other candidates don’t know or simply won’t say how they are paying for hundreds of millions of dollars in promises or how they will fill Toronto’s $4.3-billion fiscal hole.
“I am open and transparent about my numbers and they are offering voters the X-Files,” Hunter says.
“People keep telling me they believe things are broken right now, and they know that Toronto needs a very different approach than what we have seen from city hall and its veterans.”
Hunter is exposing her opponent’s tax proposals as a series of X-Files where the “X” stands for “unknown”:
X-File: Mark Saunders and Brad Bradford will find billions of dollars in unspecific “efficiencies”. They want to cut their way to somewhere.
X-File: Ana Bailao and Olivia Chow will get a “special deal” for Toronto to fill its fiscal hole from a federal government that is itself billions of dollars in debt. This special one-off deal does not exist. It has never happened before and will not happen now.
X-File: Ana Bailao says Doug Ford will upload the upkeep of city highways to pay for her promises. He has repeatedly said he will not.
X-File: Olivia Chow says she doesn’t know what her tax increase will be because she can’t predict the future, even though the Bank of Canada regularly issues inflation forecasts that are reliable.
X-File: If Olivia Chow does not know how much she will raise taxes, she also doesn’t know what her budget will look like and what she will be able to do or not do.
X-File: Josh Matlow believes it possible to convince council to cut the police budget and cancel the rebuild of the Gardiner Expressway, even though they have yet to agree to any of that, and likely never will.
“The truth is out there, but the other candidates are trying to hide it from you,” says Hunter. “The proposals of my opponents are X-Files and they don’t want you to know the truth,” says Hunter. “In contrast, I am offering a tax plan that is fair, transparent and real.
“X-Files, or a my fully-costed and fully-funded ‘Three & Six’ plan. The choice is clear, and my ‘Three & Six’ plan is the real deal.”
In building her “Three and Six” tax plan, Hunter drew on her experiences as Associate Minister of Finance and 10 years in the Legislature, as well as CEO of CivicAction and CAO of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
Since the beginning of the mayoral campaign, Hunter has systematically laid out her priorities culminating in this fully-costed, fully-funded, responsible and affordable plan.
“When people vote for me as their mayor, they know exactly what they are getting,” says Hunter. “My ‘Three & Six’ tax plan is fair, transparent, and real. I am the only candidate with a comprehensive, fully-costed and fully-funded plan, which spells out what I will be doing and how I will be paying for it. Let’s Fix the Six together. Join me.”
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Contact: Charmain Emerson charmain@culturedcommunications.ca
Notes for remarks by Mitzie Hunter comparing tax proposals of other candidates with her fair and transparent taxation plan, June 22, 2023:
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