LONDON – Ontario’s Liberal government should not hesitate to restore taxes to “civilized levels” if that’s what it takes to rebuild the province’s shattered public services, the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says.
“Ontario has a revenue problem, not an expense problem,” Leah Casselman said. “If we have to restore tax levels to rebuild our public services, then we should do it.”
Government revenues for 2003-04 are forecast to be $13.3 billion lower than they would have been if the Harris-Eves tax cuts had not been implemented, Casselman noted.
“The crisis we face in Ontario is not a financial crisis,” she said. “It is a public service crisis. It is absolutely idiotic to deepen the public service crisis when the problem lies on the revenue side.”
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 former Finance Minister Jim Flaherty; and
· 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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For more information:
Randy Robinson (416) 448-7441; (416) 788-9134
Katie FitzRandolph (416) 448-7440; (416) 788-9057
