Deputy mayor Norm Kelly puts Rob Ford’s low-tax rhetoric to shame

The Post reports that Kelly’s office sent out a statement this morning saying that he’d be supporting a motion to reduce this year’s tax hike to 2.25 per cent. This is a workable suggestion for at least two reasons. One, it’s not an enormous change (a .25 per cent residential property tax increase is the equivalent of about $6 million for the city). And two, it’s coming from Kelly, whose job, now that Ford has been stripped of most of his powers, is to carry on the mayor’s respect-the-taxpayers mandate with as much dignity as he can muster. Unlike Ford, Kelly still has enough legitimacy that he can come out in favour of a tax break for residents and not seem like a blowhard making unrealistic demands.

Ford has been asking for a 1.75 per cent tax bump, despite the fact that his own budget chief has told him that achieving such a small hike would be “very difficult.” Kelly’s 2.25 per cent includes a .5 per cent hike earmarked specifically to pay for the Scarborough subway extension, a project Ford personally championed against the advice of transit planners.

Ford has yet to suggest a specific way to carve out the savings necessary to make his preferred tax rate a reality, and he only has a few more weeks to do so. City council’s final budget vote is scheduled for January 30.