When mayor John Tory recently proposed road tolls in Toronto, some pundits in the media praised it as a bold move: “An idea whose time has come,” stated The Star. “Perfect fit,” stated the National Post. City council is solidly onside, with councillors voting overwhelmingly in mid- December to back the idea.

But many who would be affected by tolls on two expressways that feed adjacent municipalities – often referred to by their 905 area code – were not so impressed. Bonnie Crombie, the mayor of Mississauga, on Toronto’s western edge, suggested that Tory’s proposal of a toonie a ride would be unfair to Mississauga commuters. Tolls “will not only affect residents in his city, but those in the 905 as well,” she said, noting that Tory has other ways to raise money.

Ontario Tory leader Patrick Brown got his licks in, starting a “no toll” poll and raising the spectre of copycat tolls in every 905 municipality. These scripts just write themselves.

There is clearly a fiscal problem that needs to be addressed. Toronto is facing $33 billion in transit and infrastructure costs, including badly needed new rapid transit. According to Gord Perks, councillor for Toronto’s Ward 14 (Parkdale-High Park), Toronto even lacks “the right tax mix to pay for the day-to-day services we operate.”

Toronto is like a wealthy old businessman who, despite his success, has to go begging to his accountants – the provincial and federal governments – for a bump in his allowance for basics such as building and maintaining transit and roads. That’s because, despite generating at least 10% of Canada’s gross domestic product, Toronto has extremely limited taxation powers. With most of that wealth transferred to the rest of the country, it can’t even balance its own annual budget of about $12 billion.

A general sales tax is outside its powers and the province steadfastly refuses to share the bounty from sales taxes collected from city residents, refusing another city request to do so as recently as mid-December. And raising property taxes – the foundation of the city’s budget – is always a popularity contest loser. Just to implement the road toll, Toronto has to ask Premier Kathleen Wynne’s permission, which she says she will give.

Transit consultants point out that residents are really paying a toll every time they ride transit (the current cash fare is $3.25) and, therefore, visitors and outlying commuters who drive should stop whining about a toonie. As transit consultants also point out, everyone pays to build the roads, but users don’t pay for their maintenance.

Ultimately, this is just as much about easing congestion as it is about refilling coffers. Anyone travelling at rush hour is only too sadly aware of the creeping pace of motorists in Toronto and the surrounding communities, whose population is more than 6.5 million and climbing. Jarrett Walker of www.HumanTransit.org argues that the toll should instead be called a “decongestion tax.” He flips the argument by saying that drivers who pay tolls are not paying to use the roads; they’re paying other people not to use them.

And then there are regional realities. The wealth of adjacent communities, and much of the province, depends on the economic success of the city itself: it provides jobs and markets for those who live close by, but outside its formal boundaries – and its higher tax rates. Perhaps those residents should chip in to the cost of bringing two tonnes of metal with them into the city every day.

A toll should raise $160 million to $200 million annually. Tolls, however, may create their own intractable problems: more commuters on non-toll roads, accessing the city for free. IE

© 2017 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.