Metrolinx backs hikes in gas, sales tax, parking levy to fund the Big Move
It’s being positioned as a $477 annual per household investment in the region’s transportation future.
A 1 per cent hike in the GST; a 5-cent a litre hike in the gas tax; a 25-cent daily commercial parking levy and 15 per cent rise in development charges are the cornerstones of a $34 billion investment strategy released by Metrolinx on Monday.
The revenue would fund a bundle of 13 transit projects, ranging from a downtown relief line for Toronto, electrification of some GO lines and the Union Pearson Express train and, light rail in Mississauga and Hamilton.
The first $16 billion worth of projects outlined in the Metrolinx Big Move plan is already underway. The province has already committed funds to that package of projects, which includes four LRTs in Toronto, bus rapid transit in York Region, the Pearson-to-Union train shuttle and the Union Station train shed renovation.
The Metrolinx investment strategy released Monday also includes three “complementary” policy proposals designed to wring more efficiency out of the existing road and transit network. Those include high-occupancy toll lanes, parking fees at transit stations and land-value capture to leverage the development potential along new transit lines.
To ensure the taxes are, in fact, dedicated to transit and not swallowed up in general government revenue streams, Metrolinx is recommending they flow to an untouchable transit trust fund. That fund and its impact would be reviewed after 10 years and again in 20 years to determine if it should continue.
The HST increase would raise about $1.3 billion for the Toronto region. If the government decided to levy that tax province-wide, the $1.7 billion raised in other areas would be spent on priorities in those parts of the province, said Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/2013/05/27/metrolinx_backs_hikes_in_gas_sales_tax_par...
