WHAT: TAXED OUT gallery exhibit
WHEN: Opening night — Sept. 12th,
WHERE: Urbanspace Gallery, 401 Richmond Street W, ground floor
RSVP: Click through to Eventbrite to let us know if you’re coming
Intense, rapid development in Toronto has led to massive hikes in commercial property values and taxes. Independent businesses are feeling the crunch. Many have closed, and more are threatened by rising space costs. Presenting TAXED OUT, a gallery exhibition presented by the City Building Institute and Spacing, which through a curated collection of statistics, photography and other visuals illustrates the very real impact of tax policy on the main streets we love.
Experience the exhibition at Urbanspace Gallery from September 10 to December 14, 2018. Join us for our launch event on September 12, and hear from a panel of experts working to affect positive change and protect Toronto small businesses.
Come to the launch event on September 12, 6 PM to 8 PM with featured guests:
- Kristyn Wong-Tam (Toronto City Council candidate)
- LoriAnn Girvan (Chief Operating Officer, Artscape)
- Mark Garner (Executive Director, Downtown Yonge BIA)
- Peter Tomlinson (tax policy expert)
- Rob Sysak (Executive Director, West Queen West BIA)
5 comments
It seems Spacing has lost my previous post, or refused to post it.
There is a certain irony that this exhibit is taking place in a building that is going to have its large proprty tax rebate paid for by the soley by the subjects of the exhibit.
There also seems to be a lot of scapegoating on MPAC. Regardless of the means off assessment, with the legal restraints mandating balanced budget, any reduction in tax income from one class of property needs to offset by higher taxes in the other (residential). Toronto residents already think that they pay too much, despite only covering a fraction of the costs of the services provided.
“There is a certain irony that this exhibit is taking place in a building that is going to have its large proprty [sic] tax rebate paid for by the [sic] soley by the subjects of the exhibit.”
Glen: How is it ironic it’s at 401 Richmond? The point of having the exhibit there is for that exact reason.
It is ironic because the very same tax breaks that make the viability of 401 Richmond a reality will acellerate the hardships/demise of the exhibits subjects.
It is not a judgment call, it would be a crime to loose 401 Richmond.
Glen: that makes no sense. the exhibit’s subjects have been saved by the new tax breaks. The revenue for these 10 buildings in the city will be made up as it’ll be spread across, you know, hundreds of thousands of properties.
Murray,
The revenue lost by the tax breaks for such buildings is made up for only by increased taxes in the non residential class. Which goes to the point that despite the desperate situation that we find ourselves in, there is no appetite to rebalance.
Even in this small measure, city council did not have the guts to increase taxes on the residential sector. Seeing the scale of what’s going to be needed across (1000x more?), what are the chances of anything happening?