Toronto mayor David Miller eschewed the microphone Wednesday afternoon as he climbed atop a picnic bench to address a 200-strong crowd at Nathan Phillips Square. The rally invited artists and any interested parties to express support for the upcoming Oct. 22 vote on proposed land transfer and vehicle registration taxes.
“Unlike other major cities in North America and around the world, we don’t fund cities properly in Canada,” said Miller, who opened the rally. The mayor recounted Harrris-era “downloading”, which held the city responsible for health and social services. According to www.fairtaxes.ca, the mayor’s web site, property taxes make up only 18 per cent of the top 35 U.S. cities’ revenue but account for 42 per cent of Toronto’s revenue.
Miller hoped to pass two taxes, which would provide an estimated $360 million per year, in July, but narrowly lost a council vote that saw the issue pushed to October. Service cuts-closed community centres, the TTC fare hike, public libraries closed on Sunday—have already taken place, and if the taxes aren’t passed, Miller warned, the services will either be severely reduced or be paid for by a massive increase in property taxes.
The dozen speakers who followed were given two minutes each—though no one timed them–to address the crowd. Though funding for the arts, always one of the first to be cut in a budget deficit, was important to those gathered, speakers expressed concern at the reduction of social services.
“Unlike the Toronto Real Estate Board, we can’t afford to buy a fullpage ad in the Toronto Star,” said Claire Hopkinson, executive director of the Toronto Arts Council. “But we can afford to gather here and let our voices be heard.”
Many speakers—and protestors (“Fuck the Toronto Real Estate Board!”) criticized the TREB, who opposes the proposed taxes.
The TREB web site, www.nohomebuyingtax. com, said that “a 100% increase in land transfer taxes is not the right solution to the city’s financial challenges.”
Speakers argued that services such as art programs, community centres, and the public library make the city a great place to live—and raise property values.
Desmond Cole, last year’s candidate for Ward 20, quoted the TREB web site’s address to councillors: “Get your houses in order so we have a decent city to live in without taxing a handful of tax payers.”
Cole said in response, “Renters like myself, who have to pay these punishing fees, will never be homeowners.”
Kat Cizek, Filmmaker-in-Residence at the National Film Board, spoke about homelessness: “6,500 beds are in service every night, and people still get turned away. The city has really inflated real estate prices, so to tax that seems fair.”
“Let’s tax the profiteers,” she said, a sentiment echoed by the last speaker, Adam Vaughn, councillor for Trinity- Spadina.
“That’s what real estate companies do. They follow artists into neighbourhood after neighbourhood. They capitalize on your city-building.” Vaughn told the audience that the real estate board called his office and threatened to make sure he lost the next election unless he changed his vote.
“We are not afraid,” he declared, urging Torontonians to attend the vote on Oct. 22. “Fill the chamber, so it’s the real estate board that’s going down in flame and the city that’s rising from the ashes.”
