One Year Tax Freeze

October 7th, 2010

Since 2003, spending at City Hall has increased of 50%. But services have, at best, remained stagnant. This is unfair to you, the tax payer, and we believe the tax payers of ward 19 deserve a break. This is why we are in full support of a one year tax freeze while the City of Toronto gets it’s finances in order and decides on the best direction to take Torontonians into the new decade.

I was shocked to hear in a televised debate last week that my opponent, Mike Layton, does NOT support this initiative – which can mean only one thing – Mike Layton wants to raise taxes. He suggests that unless we raise taxes, we must cut services. It is precisely this type of short-sighted mindset, brought on by the current leadership at City Hall, that has propelled our city into a downward spiral of tax-and-spend recklessness. In the process, forcing Toronto tax payers to their knees, and pushing our great city to the verge of bankruptcy.

As we dig ourselves out of this financial mess, we need to focus on the tax payer. We need to be smarter with how we spend tax dollars. Every dollar we save in doing this is a dollar we can spend on social programs and infrastructure, or guarding against unfair tax increases again in the future.

Mike Layton talks a lot about investing in communities, but Toronto needs money to do this. Mike would like to continue to hold the taxpayer ransom to invest in his Layton-style agenda, but the reality is that there is a better way. If we are smarter with the way we spend your money, we will have more money to invest in you. Smarter spending of your tax dollars will ensure that our valuable communities are viable not just today, but tomorrow, next year, and for generations to come.

We can do this in Toronto by exploring our options. A recent study estimated that Torontonians could save $50 Million per year by contracting out garbage collection. People at the doors of ward 19 have been telling me that they don’t care who picks up their garbage. They want it collected on time, and they want it done in the most efficient way possible. We need to at least look at this option. If not, we are ignoring the needs of Torontonians. Just think of the investment in our communities with a $500,000,000 savings over 10 years.

It has been said that the definition of insanity is repeating the same action and expecting a different result. That would be a vote for the status quo on October 25th.

A vote for Sean McCormick is a vote for change.