Toronto residents are paying more taxes than they have to—on purpose!

When city councillors floated the idea of voluntary taxes last year, we couldn’t tell if they were making a sincere recommendation or issuing a not-so-subtle dare to all the good Torontonians who claimed they would open their wallets to save city services. Turns out not only were those councillors serious, but voluntary contributions are also already being made to the city’s coffers. Seriously, in 2010 over 10,000 people forked over a collective $1.2 million in donations. Now the city hopes that recent debates over the city’s (supposedly) dismal finances, along with a little bit of publicity, could bump that number even higher. And while the numbers aren’t confirmed yet, the city has already received donations in response to the new option. Who knows, maybe this whole thing really was a joke. Unlike those other jokes from councillors, though, this one is actually making the city money. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »