GOLDSTEIN: Ford’s high tax, big spending policies worse than Wynne's, report says

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While Ontario Premier Doug Ford is fighting U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports, he’s also imposing a higher provincial tax burden on Ontario families than the previous Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute.

The fiscally conservative think tank says the inflation adjusted, per capita tax burden in Ontario this year under Ford’s Progressive Conservative government is expected to be $9,406 — 7.7% higher than the $8,736 tax burden imposed on Ontarians in the final year of the Wynne government in 2017-18.

This in spite of the fact tax revenue for Ford’s government has steadily increased in recent years, now projected at 13.4% compared to the size of the Ontario economy this year, versus 12.1% for the Wynne government in its final year of office.

“We show that despite many commitments to do so over time, the Ford government has not meaningfully reduced tax rates in Ontario,” study co-authors Ben Eisen and Milagros Palacios write in their report, “Pro-Growth Options for Shrinking the Tax Burden in Ontario.”

“During his first campaign as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and since taking office, Ford has been sharply critical of his predecessor Liberal governments, led by Dalton McGuinty and Wynne, for increasing taxes on Ontarians.

“In 2021, Ford argued that the previous government’s tax increases were a mistake and went so far as to say, ‘The worst place you can hand your money over is to the government …

“Former (Ford) finance critic Vic Fedeli, who would go on to serve as Ford’s first finance minister, frequently criticized the Liberal governments of the day (from 2003 to 2018) for Ontario’s high personal income tax (PIT) rates …

“Fedeli frequently argued that taxes in Ontario were too high, and criticized PIT increases for making the province uncompetitive with other provinces and American states, as well as other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development jurisdictions.”

According to Eisen, “Lowering taxes is one way Queen’s Park could boost economic growth, attract more investment and let Ontario workers keep more of their own money.”

Instead, the study says, the Ford government has opted for such measures as a one-time, $200 per person tax “rebate” for all Ontarians late last year — prior to the recent Ontario election which Ford won with a third consecutive majority government.

The study described this approach as “misguided” compared to across-the-board personal and corporate income tax cuts.

It proposes two alternative scenarios for lowering the tax burden on Ontario citizens.

The first would simply fulfill previous tax cuts promised by both Liberal and Conservative governments in Ontario but never delivered, which the study says would save Ontario taxpayers a total of $5 billion, for a per-person reduction of $310.

A more ambitious proposal to cut personal and corporate income taxes would save taxpayers a total of $20.1 billion for a per-person reduction of $1,243 per person.

lgoldstein@postmedia.com