CMEDIA: Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow was reported to say that she has no plans to tax rain in the city.
“Despite what they say on Twitter or X, the city isn’t trying to tax the rain,” Chow said Wednesday night in a post to X which included a video of her in a raincoat during the latest downpour. “If it was, we’d be making big bucks today.”
Following consultations about changes to stormwater charges last week, the comment by Chow on Wednesday had sparked concern among homeowners that they could be taxed for the very rain that falls from the sky.
Last week’s news said , a stormwater surcharge addition was being looked into by the city based on a property’s size and paved surface area.
According to the proposal, stormwater fees were to be removed from the water rate currently charged to homeowners, and a separate tax added to utility bills as a fixed charge, depending on the size of the paved area on the property.
The new charge would have gone directly to fund stormwater infrastructure.
The idea that properties which send more water into the city’s storm system would be hit with higher fees led some to opine that the city was contemplating a “rain tax.”
Chow has reportedly asked city staff to take another look at the proposal.
“I’ve told Toronto Water to come back to City Council with a plan that supports more green infrastructure, prevents flooding, and keeps your water bills low,” Chow said.
Chow explained in her video that the idea behind the proposal was to assure that businesses with large parking lots contribute more in accordance with the larger volume of water they send into the storm system.
“When we get a big rainstorm, like right now, basements flood, roads flood, sewage overflows and runs into the lake or on our ravines, and that’s because storm water slides off paved surfaces instead of absorbing into the ground,” Chow said.
“It overwhelms our water infrastructure. ..we should make it easier for people to do their part by giving them financial incentives,,,to have a stormwater policy that asks homeowners to pay while letting businesses with massive parking lots off the hook,” Chow said
But the consultations have been reportedly put on hold.
“Consultation has been paused to allow City staff to do further work to align the possible implementation of a stormwater charge and water service charge…and the City’s long-term financial plan,” the note reads adding that more information will be shared at a future date.
