Using property taxes to fund the Scarborough subway? Excuse me while I go throw up

Way back in April, when asked about the release of a Metrolinx report laying out a series of possible taxes, fees and tolls that could be used to fund GTA transit, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford pretended to vomit.

The mayor was so disgusted by the idea of implementing what Metrolinx and the provincial government branded “transit revenue tools” that he leaned over and made a sound like bleargh.

But that was then. These days, the mayor is now in a position where he has to consider increasing taxes for transit.

Ford’s much-loved and long-promised Scarborough subway extension is closer to reality than it’s ever been. The mayor even got the stingy federal government to throw in $660 million. And that’s on top of the $1.48 billion pledged by Queen’s Park.

But Ford’s still short at least $910 million in funding.

That’s no insignificant figure. To cover the bulk of those costs, the city manager recommends that the mayor and council issue debt and then phase in — at minimum — a 1.6 per-cent property tax increase over the next three years.

The citywide levy will come on top of regular property tax increases needed to pay for other services.

Even if you’re a big fan of this Scarborough subway, using property taxes to fund transit construction is a lousy strategy. So lousy, in fact, that during the apparently vomit-worthy Metrolinx consultation process on transit revenues last spring, virtually every GTA politician and community group rejected the idea of directing property tax revenue toward transit construction.

And it was for good reason. While voters may flinch over the notion of a transit sales tax or gas taxes, at least those are new revenues that rise and fall with inflation. Property tax revenue, on the other hand, doesn’t rise with inflation and is already strained to cover basic programs and services.

But as much as I dislike city staff’s recommended strategy to pay for this subway, I’m more worried that Ford may opt to not pay for it at all.

I worry that he won’t have the stomach for it.

The worst case scenario would see Ford and a slim majority of council opt to both move forward with the subway and delay the funding decision, refusing to raise taxes enough to cover their debt payments.

It’d be one of the most fiscally irresponsible decisions in Toronto’s history. It would hurl the city into budget crisis mode for a generation, squeezing every single public service and threatening the city’s credit rating.

All for a three-stop subway extension.

It’d be enough to make you want to throw up.