Norm Miller believes the province doesn’t need to add more tax to help with rising municipal costs.
The Parry Sound Muskoka MPP says a one per cent increase to HST doesn’t seem like the best answer to help fund things like infrastructure costs. Miller says the province should instead be looking to its existing forms of tax revenue.
Miller’s comments are in response to a proposal put forward by The Association of Municipalities of Ontario to add the one per cent to HST. AMO officials say over the next ten years provincial municipalities will be needing over $4.9 billion to pay for infrastructure costs like road repairs and new public facilities. AMO believes the extra one per cent would bring in about $2.9 billion annually.
AMO’s proposal was rejected by all provincial political parties at its recent conference in August.
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AMO official explains the municipal need for an HST increase in Ontario