Cities Need More Taxing Power

It looks like Toronto Mayor David Miller is trying to kick-start a campaign to get 1 out of every 6 cents of GST revenue.

It's well known that cities need the money to repair their crumbling infrastructures and to provide services, however, I'm really not sure that getting money from the federal government is really the best idea, for two reasons: 1) What the federal government can give, it can take away; and 2) Cities are constitutionally the responsibility of the provinces.

I'd say what needs to happen is that cities need to have more access to tools which allows them to raise more money. I say that the provinces needs to give cities the ability to levy sales and income taxes (to a limit), on top of the present ability for municipalities to levy property taxes. That way, cities can both have the ability to collect taxes in the way that is most fair to its citizens and that cities don't have to depend on income that can be cut at the whim of a government.

Today's cities are expected to do more. Let's give them the tools so that they can succeed.