When Dwight or Sandra come knocking at your door for the upcoming Provincial election, this would be a good article to have handy to give to them. Instead of pushing millions out the door at the end of the fiscal year to their favourite multicultural groups, how about some real relief for cities? Instead of a "green license" plate program that will only add to the bureaucracy, send the money to the cities. Surplus at the end of the year? - 1/3 debt payment, 2/3 to the cities.
The only way we're ever going to halt the steady march of tax/fee/levy increases at the local level is if they are funded appropriately by the Provincial government.
Cities the real victims of fiscal imbalance
Peter Hadekel, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, August 11, 2007
But Courchene argues that urban tax reform has to be broad-based. Cities are creatures of provincial governments, and it's from that level of government that solutions must come.
Cities should be able to share in provincial income tax receipts the way provinces piggy-back on federal revenues, he argues.
There are other issues to consider. As cities gain in economic power, citizens will demand a greater political voice and more democratic accountability for decisions that affect them.
That suggests that the voting power in urban areas will have to rise to reflect their economic weight.
In Canada, we've heard a lot of talk about the fiscal imbalance between the provinces and the federal government.
But the most striking imbalance may be at the urban level, where the cities expected to carry the economic load don't have the tools for the job.
PS. - I almost forgot one of the biggest ones - upload social services costs back to the Province. It should be easy for them to do, they just have to stop the never ending spending increases above inflation and new program creation. Let's pay for what we have now instead of inventing new things to pay for.
H/T Langley Politics dot com
