I don’t know why I still love to pick on old Jeannot Volpe. Maybe it’s the Al Hogan tie in. I don’t know but when I heard old Jeannot saying that the Tories were the defenders of low property taxes this a.m., I just had to check. You know I did.
So I checked. During the Tory reign (so fondly coddled by Al Hogan), total property tax revenue went up by 6.9% per year the fastest increase of any of the major taxes we pay. Under the new Lib budget, they are forecast to increase by 4.5% year over year. Sauce for the goose, Hogan. Why weren’t you pushing tax revolts when Volpe was at the helm and property taxes were going up 40% faster?
Now, of course, this chart represents total taxes forecast in each budget and is not tied to specific tax rates or breaks. But there are some interesting other facts in this chart. Total property taxes collected are expected to go up by $16 million this year. Gas taxes will drop by $45 million (one presumes Al’s Hummer makes up at least a good portion of that). The other thing that bothers me is that Lord’s tax cuts were supposed to be stimulative – i.e. they will drive new economic growth over time. If so, how come corporate tax increases had the worst performance of any tax?
Total Tax Increases by Category: