{"id":17190,"date":"2011-01-11T12:33:59","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T16:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=17190"},"modified":"2011-01-11T14:45:44","modified_gmt":"2011-01-11T18:45:44","slug":"lorinc-the-new-balancing-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: The new balancing act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"401\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/spacingmedia.com\/uploads\/toronto\/feature-lorinc.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"85\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Regardless of who\u2019s in charge, the City\u2019s budget launch is almost always an exercise in political performance art and yesterday\u2019s fringe fest\u2019 was no exception.<\/p>\n<p>Casting himself, a bit unexpectedly, as a kind of fiscal Moses wandering in Toronto\u2019s wasteful wilderness, Mayor Rob Ford began the day with an odd soliloquy about how he\u2019d spent the past 40 days and 40 nights trimming and tucking and cutting, guided on his mission by the upraised voices of Toronto\u2019s over-taxed voters.<\/p>\n<p>Moments later, he re-appeared (enter stage right) as Machiavelli\u2019s Cesar Borgia, threatening to leave the severed heads of his bureaucratic adversaries (i.e., Chief Bill Blair and TTC general manager Gary Webster) in the town square as a warning to those who would choose to defy him. \u201cIf they\u2019re unable to manage effectively,\u201d Ford intoned, \u201cwe will have to find new managers who can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the risk of beating this image to death, the mayor may also have cast himself against type with one key element in an otherwise drama-free budget.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone, of course, now knows the vehicle registration tax was Ford\u2019s version of island airport bridge \u2014 a $64 million symbol of his resolve, easily dispensed with thanks to an offsetting $58 million in TTC fare revenue last year.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>But from my reading of Ford\u2019s balancing act, I suspect he won\u2019t be in a hurry to kill off its evil twin sister, the municipal land transfer tax (MLTT), any time soon.<\/p>\n<p>In yesterday\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/budget2011\/pdf\/2011budget-introductiog-operating.pdf\">presentations<\/a> [PDF], City officials stressed they\u2019d been able to close part of the $706 million revenue\/expense gap with $123 million in revenues attributable to \u201ceconomic growth.\u201d That figure includes $76 million of unanticipated MLTT revenue for 2010. That tax, introduced in 2008 at the same time as the vehicle levy, will account for about 2%, or $220 million, of the City\u2019s gross revenue, for 2011 \u2014 a $50 million increase from 2010. (The new billboard tax, mentioned nowhere in the budget documents, will add $8.8 million, up from $3.5 million for 2010.)<\/p>\n<p>The MLTT, in fact, will become the largest single source of non-program revenue for the city for 2011.  In other words, one of the dreaded David Miller-era taxes is going to do the heavy political lifting for a mayor who desperately wants to freeze taxes to show he\u2019s got the cojones to rein in spending. As it happens, that $50 million is approximately equal to a 2.5% increase in property taxes. Ain\u2019t life funny?<\/p>\n<p>Ford, lest we forget, pledged to axe the MLTT, and did so with little ambiguity: \u201cThis [tax] punishes people and families who live in Toronto and makes the city less affordable for many people,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.robfordformayor.ca\/issues\/\">according to his campaign platform<\/a>. \u201cThis tax is driving business, families, and people away from Toronto. Rob Ford will move to abolish the Land Transfer Tax in his first year as Mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The mayor, evidently, is not going to take this step in his first budget. And maybe he never will, given that his officials appear to be increasing the City\u2019s near-term reliance on the MLTT. Like the GST was for a generation of federal politicians, the land transfer tax, I predict, will be with us for years to come, offering numerical proof that Toronto really does need revenue streams that grow with the economy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/shaunpierre\/3619869578\/\"><em>photo by Shaun Merritt<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regardless of who\u2019s in charge, the City\u2019s budget launch is almost always an exercise in political performance art and yesterday\u2019s fringe fest\u2019 was no exception. Casting himself, a bit unexpectedly, as a kind of fiscal Moses wandering in Toronto\u2019s wasteful wilderness, Mayor Rob Ford began the day with an odd soliloquy about how he\u2019d spent<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;LORINC: The new balancing act&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7801,16866,2211,16865,3280,2347,426,227,10762,19,889,391],"class_list":["post-17190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bill-blair","tag-cesar-borgia","tag-chief","tag-david-miller-era","tag-gary-webster","tag-general-manager","tag-mayor","tag-rob-ford","tag-shaun-merritt","tag-toronto","tag-ttc","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LORINC: The new balancing act - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: The new balancing act - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Regardless of who\u2019s in charge, the City\u2019s budget launch is almost always an exercise in political performance art and yesterday\u2019s fringe fest\u2019 was no exception. Casting himself, a bit unexpectedly, as a kind of fiscal Moses wandering in Toronto\u2019s wasteful wilderness, Mayor Rob Ford began the day with an odd soliloquy about how he\u2019d spentContinue reading &quot;LORINC: The new balancing act&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-11T16:33:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-01-11T18:45:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Lorinc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Lorinc\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/\",\"name\":\"LORINC: The new balancing act - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-11T16:33:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-01-11T18:45:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/faff9da0e20b8f5223099d707e940d8e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LORINC: The new balancing act\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/faff9da0e20b8f5223099d707e940d8e\",\"name\":\"John Lorinc\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73e05cb61860b63be76ffccf72a4d736?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73e05cb61860b63be76ffccf72a4d736?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Lorinc\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/john\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LORINC: The new balancing act - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LORINC: The new balancing act - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Regardless of who\u2019s in charge, the City\u2019s budget launch is almost always an exercise in political performance art and yesterday\u2019s fringe fest\u2019 was no exception. Casting himself, a bit unexpectedly, as a kind of fiscal Moses wandering in Toronto\u2019s wasteful wilderness, Mayor Rob Ford began the day with an odd soliloquy about how he\u2019d spentContinue reading \"LORINC: The new balancing act\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2011-01-11T16:33:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-01-11T18:45:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"John Lorinc","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Lorinc","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/","name":"LORINC: The new balancing act - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg","datePublished":"2011-01-11T16:33:59+00:00","dateModified":"2011-01-11T18:45:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/faff9da0e20b8f5223099d707e940d8e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3649\/3619869578_e0e2acee35_z.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/01\/11\/lorinc-the-new-balancing-act\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LORINC: The new balancing act"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/faff9da0e20b8f5223099d707e940d8e","name":"John Lorinc","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73e05cb61860b63be76ffccf72a4d736?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73e05cb61860b63be76ffccf72a4d736?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"John Lorinc"},"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/john\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17190"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17196,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17190\/revisions\/17196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}