Toronto Dealers Celebrate Anniversary of City Ending Vehicle Tax
Exactly one year ago today, the Toronto City Council repealed the Personal Vehicle Tax that required drivers to pay $60 for each car registered in the city and $30 for each motorcycle or moped.
In light of this anniversary, Toronto’s car dealers came out in celebration to commemorate the end of what they called a “war on cars” from City Hall’s former administration.
The Toronto Automobile Dealers Association says the repeal of the PVT saves drivers $64 million a year in taxes.
"Mayor Rob Ford understands the family car is a necessity for families to run their lives,” Frank Notte, TADA’s director of government relations, said of the city’s mayor elected last year. Ford had made the elimination of the PVT a major part of his 2010 campaign for office, TADA noted.
“The Toronto Automobile Dealers Association applauds Mayor Ford for killing the Toronto Car Tax that unfairly targeted the family car,” Notte continued.
“The City of Toronto's $774 million budget deficit is the direct result of reckless and out-of-control spending. Mayor Ford is doing the right thing by reducing expenses to reign in the budget deficit instead of taking the easy way out by taxing families for owning a car,” he added.
Printer-friendly version
Comments
Thanks a lot. Now I have to pay an extra $60 a year to take the subway to school because drivers complained about their car tax. Much of the $774 million shortfall is a direct result of cancelling the PVT - as you said, $64 million in lost revenue for 2011 and about the same for 2012, so about $130 million that could have saved the $88 million in cuts we're seeing.
I guess drivers want me to buy a car so I can drive everyday to school, then they'll complain that there's too much traffic.
Well dudes, you can be CERTAIN that I will NEVER EVER purchase another car from any of your members.
I am one of the many drivers in Toronto who were HAPPY to pay the tax. It was fair, it was less than a tank of gas, and it put the expense where it could be most easily carried: those with enough money to own an car.
Your clear celebration of self-interest and stupidity will send me to Kajiji to purchase my next car. I will not do business with someone who celebrates taking money from lunch programs as an heroic act by a well meaning Mayor.
I will be sure, Mr. Notte, to look for your logo on the door of any dealership I enter. If I see it, I will be certain to let them know that I will NOT purchase a car from a member of such a self-centered, short witted, politically odious and economically idiotic as a group who would employ you as a director, spokesmouse, or janitor.
Thank you for making clear that your organization belongs on my personal boycott list.
McQuaid.
It must have been a real hardship for all those Suburbans, Yukons, Hummers, Caravans, etc. to pay a tax that was less than a tankful of gas. Mayor Ford cuts transit, and increases fares equal or greater than the cost of the vehicle registration tax. But transit users and cyclists are reducing pollution and gridlock; unlike the drivers who commute to work.
Cutting the vehicle tax was one of the stupidest things Ford did. I own a car, and recommended that the tax didn't go far enough when it was first passed. I wrote a letter to my then councillor and mayor that the tax should have been based on in town fuel consumption, gross vehicle weight, or fuel tank size to more adequately describe the negative environmental impact of such vehicles. The tax could have been earmarked to improve TTC and/or cover the cost of road maintenance.
Hope you're proud - taking food from the mouths of the poor. What an excellent business proposition.
I hope that history judges this period as exceeding the cruelty of any Scrooge - placing the Dollar above God and Good.
Happy Holidays.
Yeah, that $5 a month ( $60 annually) was a crippling and brutal price to pay for the privilige of owning a car in Toronto. A terrible source of revenue for the city as well.
*headshake*
Yeah that $5 a month ($60) was a horribly crippling fee to pay for the privilige of owning a car in Toronto. A terrible source of revenue for the city as well.
Oh good, Frank Notte has proven he's not worth listening to by making three errors in three sentences:
1. The tax (which was really a user fee) was called the "Personal Vehicle Tax" not the "Toronto Car Tax".
2. It didn't target families, only people who own personal vehicles. Investigation might reveal that this fee/tax actually dodged the lowest-income in the city, but I don't have stats for that.
3. The budget deficit amount was never $774M, that was a made-up extreme extrapolation created for soundbite use. In fact you often hear the mayor say $755M possibly because he forget the old number. City staff and records have already shown that this number was never accurate.
One thing that Notte got correct is that there is reckless spending in City Hall: Mayor Ford gave the police an 11% raise, cut the PVT without a plan to cover the missing revenue, cancelled a fully-funded LRT program to spend the SAME amount of provincial money on LESS transit plus have to pay a $65M cancellation charge, and he sole-sourced a business card order to his family company instead of putting it to tender.
I think the PVT was explained poorly, but provided needed revenue. Since nobody seems willing to pay for their use of roads, or cars, now we get a transit fare hike (plus service cuts the mayor promised to avoid), and a property tax hike. What a deal!
Thanks, Cameron. You are correct on all counts, by my figuring.
Let's let everyone know that this organization is an enemy of the people of Toronto. I'll be posting this article where I can, and reminding people to quote Mr. Notte when they refuse to purchase from a member of this group.
The one thing I would add to your notes is that the increase in TTC fares amounts to exactly 60 dollars per year. Take the tax off the rich, and put it where it belongs: on the most vulnerable.
Post new comment