If one takes the time to read the details, a few of the media reports include information on the actual impact of this increase on individual taxpayers. We find that an average homeowner will face a tax increase of $374. This works out to just under $8 per week, making it hard to understand why this increase is portrayed as so catastrophic.
Toronto has a legitimate argument about the need for the other levels of government to step up. In particular, the federal government is responsible for the greatly increased number of immigrants into Canada, heavily concentrated in the Toronto area, and should do more to finance the associated costs. But if Toronto hadn’t maintained tax levels well below other municipalities in the GTA for more than a decade, it could have addressed many of its expenditure needs – notably an aging infrastructure – before they became as demanding as they now are.
Of course, one reason that Toronto, and municipalities everywhere, are reluctant to increase property taxes is because of the unbalanced and often misleading media coverage that almost always results. The same media sources that highlight deficiencies in municipal services pounce on municipal tax increases intended to alleviate these deficiencies.