01-14-2023, 05:29 PM
(01-14-2023, 02:03 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(01-14-2023, 01:28 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I assume the point was that funding free transit would increase the tax rate...which is not unreasonable I don't think.
(I of course, would fund such projects by cutting things like our roads budget, but that's just me).
OK, so property taxes, not income taxes (marginal rates typically refer to income taxation) ... but I think the effective cost of offering free transit passes rather than discounted passes to low-income people would be minimal in terms of increasing property taxes. I don't have numbers handy but I think the impact would be in the low tenths of one per cent.
I would generally agree. I also disagree that we "have" to increase taxes...I believe there's plenty of money in the budget...we just need to allocate it more effectively.
But challenging the status quo is not something our government has been overly willing to do.