(Quebec) The Legault government has just given new taxing powers to municipalities, but it believes that Quebecers are already “overtaxed” and that mayors must instead clean up their expenses.
“Whether the taxes come from municipalities, the Quebec government or the federal government, Quebecers are already overtaxed. What I want is [que les villes] reduce their expenses,” said the Prime Minister on Wednesday at the end of the day, a few minutes after participating in the signing ceremony of the new partnership between his government and the cities.
The Legault government has allowed several cities and MRCs to impose a tax on registration which can be modulated depending on the type of vehicle, a tax described as “blue” by the opposition. It must be used to pay for public transport services, whose financing model is in crisis.
Mr. Legault also granted them “the power to impose a tax based on the property value with regard to buildings containing vacant or underused housing for residential purposes”, as well as the power to increase taxes on wastelands.
Tax burden
But before “increasing the tax burden, we must do everything to reduce spending,” said the Prime Minister.
According to him, there is no contradiction between giving taxing power to cities and asserting that Quebecers are already overtaxed. “What the mayors were asking for was flexibility. Their income comes mainly from property taxes,” he said.
They could therefore “choose to have less of this tax” and “more of another”, and “target certain taxpayers more than others for reasons of fairness”. “But overall, taxpayers are already paying too much tax. Be careful and look to manage your expenses downwards,” said Mr. Legault.
At the start of the year, the Legault government allowed the metropolitan community of Montreal from 2024 to extend the tax on registrations imposed for more than 10 years on Montrealers to finance public transport. The amount billed to motorists will increase from $45 to $59.
Could other cities follow suit? Not necessarily, says Mr. Legault. “If I wanted to, tomorrow morning, I have the power to increase the QST. But it’s absolutely no. It is not because a municipality has taxation power that it is obliged to use it. And it must look at the total revenue it collects from taxpayers,” he said.
“When we look at taxation, whether taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and we compare ourselves with Ontario, Quebecers are already overtaxed compared to our neighbors,” added the Prime Minister.