Toronto to explore municipal sales tax as part of plan to tackle ‘unprecedented financial crisis’

Toronto says it’s facing $46.5 billion in budget pressures over the next decade and wants the province to grant it permission to charge a sales tax within its borders as part of slew of measures to tackle the “unprecedented financial crisis.”

The recommendation to pursue a municipal sales tax was included a lengthy 192-page staff report released Thursday outlining the city’s plan for its fiscal future.

The report also details measures the city could pursue under its own authority, such as progressively higher rates of land-transfer tax on homes that sell for more than $3 million; increasing the existing vacant homes tax from one to three per cent; a commercial parking levy and selling off surplus land.

Former mayor John Tory requested in February that staff look into new tools to generate more revenue, as the city faces projected $1.5 billion budget shortfalls for this year and next in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After winning a byelection in June, Mayor Olivia Chow asked that the report be expedited. Her executive committee will consider the recommendations at a special meeting on Aug. 24.

This is a developing story. More to come.