Queen’s Park wants to make it a little more expensive to be rich in Ontario

Queen’s Park wants to make it a little more expensive to be rich in Ontario

(Image: abdallahh)

Thanks to yet another leak leading up to Thursday’s tabling of the 2014 provincial budget, the Star has figured out that Kathleen Wynne’s government plans to propose an income-tax increase on Ontario residents earning more than $150,000. One-hundred-fifty-thousandaires can relax, though: that first chunk of income would probably be exempt. Evidently, the increase would apply only to earnings above the $150,000 mark. (So, someone who earns $250,000 would pay the higher tax on the last $100,000.) The Canadian Press reports that the budget will also include hikes to taxes on aviation fuel and tobacco, among other things.

These new tax measures may explain how the Liberal government hopes to finance its promised $29 billion in new transit investment. The arrival of that money would be good news for any future Toronto mayor who hopes to preside over the construction of new subways.

The unanswered question in all of this, though, is whether the Liberals can actually get a budget passed. Failure to bring the NDP on side would trigger an election, and there’s no telling what would happen in that case.