Mitzie Hunter exposes “magical thinking” in opponents’ tax plans

Only Mitzie Hunter’s “Three & Six” tax plan is fair, transparent, and realistic

Toronto – Mitzie Hunter, mayoral candidate, has exposed “magical thinking” in the tax proposals of each of her opponents, saying only her Three and Six tax plan is fair, transparent and real, and be sufficient to help fund the right plan to drive Toronto’s revival.

“Toronto is not a Magic Kingdom and there are no magic beans to fill Toronto’s budget hole,” says Hunter. “Toronto has real problems that must be solved right now and my “Three and Six” tax plan, which is fair, transparent and realistic, will put Toronto back in the driver’s seat. 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’s fully-costed and funded platform includes her “Three and Six” tax plan: a general six-per-cent property 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 indulging in “magical thinking” or simply won’t say how they are paying for hundreds of millions of dollars in promises or fill Toronto’s $4.3-billion fiscal hole.

Hunter is exposing her opponent’s tax plans for “magical thinking”.

Magical thinking: Mark Saunders and Brad Bradford will find billions of dollars in unspecified “efficiencies”. They want to cut their way to somewhere.

Magical thinking: 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.

Magical thinking: Ana Bailao says Doug Ford will upload the upkeep of city highways to pay for her promises. He has repeatedly said he will not.

Magical thinking: 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. And if Olivia Chow does not know how much she will raise taxes, she also doesn’t know what she will be able to do.

Magical thinking: 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.

“Magical thinking, or a tax plan that is fair, transparent and real,” says Hunter. “The choice is clear, and my ‘Three and 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-funded, responsible and affordable plan.

“When people vote for me as their mayor, they know exactly what they are getting,” says Hunter. “My ‘Three and Six’ tax plan is fair, transparent, and real. I am the only candidate with a comprehensive, fully-costed and 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 announcing her plan for fair and transparent taxation, June 3 2023:

• Since the beginning of this campaign, I have systematically laid out my priorities.

• More affordable housing… more quickly. 

• Below-market price housing… for renters and buyers. 

• Investing more in city services… so the city works better. 

• More potholes filled… better snow clearance…

• My practical and pragmatic game plan… to help Toronto close the $4.3-billion hole in its operating budget… between now and 2025.

• But let’s face it. 

• There is a lot of overlap among all of the candidates. 

• We all love our city. 

• We all want safe streets and a safer TTC. 

• We all want to reduce homelessness.

• We all believe we need more housing… 

• And some of us actually have plans to deliver it.

• In fact… unlike everybody else… most of the housing I propose… 

• Seventy-seven per cent… will be affordable.

• Other candidates support the failed… developer first… approach. 

• Ana Bailao is their champion…

• She will deliver for developers… but not for you. 

• Eighty per cent of the housing she supports… will be expensive condos. 

• That’s assuming they get built… which is not a safe assumption. 

• Her way… Housing Now… simply has not worked. 

• Everyone wants better TTC service. 

• Everyone including the candidates who voted for service cuts and higher fares… just a few months ago. 

• I know it’s hard to figure out what… or who to believe.

• But there is one issue where the choice is very clear… 

• And that is on taxes. 

• I am the only candidate who has released… my entire three-year plan. 

• No one else has done that.

• You should ask yourself…

• Are they hiding something?

• Or are they simply unprepared?

• Here’s my fair and transparent  Three and Six property tax plan…

• My plan is for a six-per-cent general increase in residential property taxes. 

• This is slightly more than the five-point-five per cent increase for this year... that was approved by the current council.

• For the average household… my plan means $216 next year… 

• And $230 the year after that. 

• That’s less than $20 per month.

• But when prices for everything are going up… even $20 can be a lot for many people.

• That is why my plan has two important fairness pieces. 

• For the 40 per cent of homeowner households that have an income of $80,000 or less… 

• My brand-new innovation is a rebate of 50 per cent of the general increase… 

• That reduces the increase to three per cent…

• That’s $108 next year and $115… the year after that. 

• Less than $10 per month…

• And BELOW… the expected inflation rate.

• The second fairness piece builds on programs we already have for seniors…

• Letting them defer a tax increase… or eliminate it completely… if they have an income up to $55,000. 

• My plan increases this limit to $80,000. 

• This means more than half of all senior homeowners… 

• Will be able to have no out-of-pocket increase at all.

• This… along with my plan to make the TTC free for seniors… 

• Makes my plan for seniors the most comprehensive of any on offer. 

• Mark.. Ana… and Brad… have all decided to stick with what has put the city in a bad place.

• They say… “no tax increase above inflation.” 

• It sounds reasonable… moderate… Conservative even.

• But the problem is… 12 years of inflation… or lower-than-inflation increases… has helped create the mess we are in. 

• They are offering magical thinking. 

• My three-year budget proposal is based on the City’s own budget estimates. 

• It shows we have a budget hole over the next two years…

• Of $3.3-billion. 

• Look… Everybody can estimate inflation based on the Bank of Canada… and other leading forecasters. 

• Everyone, that is, except Olivia Chow… who says she doesn’t want to… because she says it is impossible.

• That’s magical thinking. 

• Here’s my message for Olivia… 

• A 3.5 per cent inflation-based tax increase… will raise about $500 millionover two years.

• This is not enough to even cover our expected extra interest and debt costs. 

• It is barely enough to cover the increase in regular operating costs. 

• And it’s nowhere close to dealing with the unfunded hole in the budget… of more than $1 billion each year.

• Every candidate knows this. 

• But they are afraid to tell you the truth. 

• And how will they make up for the missing amounts needed? 

• What will they cut? 

• Mark and Brad offer left-over… warmed up… bad old ideas… 

• And tell you “efficiency” and “getting it done” is all that we need. 

• That’s magical thinking. 

• But no amount of belt tightening… or line by line review… or finding efficiencies… will find the $1 billion that is missing.

• Ana and Olivia want the people of Toronto to believe in magical thinking… in another way.

• In fact, Ana’s entire candidacy is based on the fantasy… 

• That she can get other governments to give Toronto a special deal… 

• Because she was able to get money for housing when she was council’s housing advocate.

• But all the money she got was from national programs available to every city and town. 

• She never got anything special for Toronto for a simple reason… 

• It has never happened before.

• Because the Federal and Provincial Governments never make special deals… for any city… ever…

• Unless there has been a disaster… or there is a big special event like the Olympics or an Expo.

• Magical thinking.

• And Olivia thinks she can get Ottawa to a negotiating table…

• That simply does not exist.

• The federal government has a $40-billion deficit.

• Do you really think they are going to rush to give Toronto a special deal?

• And ignore Montreal… Vancouver… Ottawa… and every other city in Canada? 

• Magical thinking. 

• I will fight for our share…

• but unlike them I will not build my plans… on fantasies and wishes.

• To his credit… Josh Matlow has costed most of his platform at about $1.1 billion over the next two years… and he has identified two years of funding… of about $1.1 billion.

• But Josh’s funding plans are not guaranteed… or even probable.