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Ontario's new Liberal government should restore taxes to civilized levels if that's what it takes to rebuild the province's shattered public services.
"Ontario has a revenue problem, not an expense problem," says the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Leah Casselman. "If we have to restore tax levels to rebuild our public services, then we should do it."
Ontario government revenues for 2003-04 are forecast to be $13.3 billion lower than they would have been if tax cuts had not been implemented. The government has many options for raising revenues in addition to restoring tax levels, Casselman said, such as
- collecting unpaid corporate taxes and closing corporate tax loopholes
- hiring more tax auditors
- reducing the use of high-priced consultants in the Ontario public service
- reducing staff caseloads at the Family Responsibility Office to help get more families off welfare
- improving accountability at provincially-funded transfer payment agencies
- abolishing the Ontario Innovation Trust, a $500-million slush fund created by the former Tory government
- ending exemptions to the employer health tax.
"By adopting these measures, the Liberals could certainly hold any tax increase to a few per cent," Casselman said. "Most Ontarians wouldn't even notice the change.
"Chopping public services is simply not an option," she said. "One thing we know about the Tories is this: If they didn't cut it, it couldn't be cut."
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