Search Results for: Municipal Revenues

Many Canadian municipalities have taken hits to their budgets due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But what has the effect been on municipalities around the world? Have municipalities in different countries fared better than others? What accounts for any differences? What needs to be done to ensure municipalities bounce back?
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In this video, a panel examines the continued impact of COVID-19 on municipal finance. How are municipalities preparing for their 2021 budgets? What impacts are they anticipating from COVID-19? What steps are needed at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels to safeguard the fiscal health of municipalities?
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In an effort to provide financial relief to citizens and local businesses in response to the COVID-19 crisis, some Canadian municipalities are introducing or expanding property tax deferral programs. Designing Property Tax Deferrals answers 10 questions that municipalities should consider when designing property tax deferral programs, highlighting some considerations and implications.
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Zack Taylor and Alec Dobson examine the state of municipal empowerment by presenting an overview of municipal law in Canada’s 10 provinces. They identify similarities and variations within and among the provinces in how they articulate the provincial-municipal relationship, municipal powers and jurisdiction, the organization of municipal institutions, and financial powers.
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This paper examines the current state of property tax policy across Canada and finds that municipalities and provinces are facing a number of shared challenges and questions, including: whether to apply progressive property tax rates, the volatility of property taxes, the benefits and drawbacks of using property tax incentives to attract businesses, and the role of provincial property taxes
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In May 2019, the City of Toronto and TTC established an Expert Advisory Panel to provide input and advice to inform the City and TTC’s engagement with the Province on Ontario on the Ontario-Toronto Realignment of Transit Responsibilities Review. IMFG was engaged to help design the panel and facilitated panel discussions on various topics relating to the current state challenges of transit in the Toronto region, role of transit in city building, integrated mobility, governance, and funding.
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The property tax generates a significant proportion of municipal revenues in Canada and has done so since Confederation. This paper makes the case that the property tax is a good tax for funding local (especially general-purpose) governments for several reasons: the base of the tax is immovable; the tax can generate reliable and sufficient revenues and make local governments independent from other orders of government; many of the core goods and services provided by local governments directly benefit property owners; the tax is visible to property owners; and the tax is easy to administer.
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This presentation by Chibulu Luo, a 2018-19 IMFG Graduate Fellow, explores three key questions: What role do African cities and municipal governments play in producing low-carbon urban growth? Which institutions or governing bodies should take the lead, and why? And what are the opportunities to scale up investments to finance sustainable technologies and infrastructure?
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