Public consultations on Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow’s controversial rain tax have officially been put on hold amidst heavy criticism and mockery.
As per the City of Toronto’s website, “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 with the City’s broader climate resilience strategy…”
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Toronto won’t be charging people for rain falling from the sky in the near future, just that they’re going back to the drawing board before hearing from the people who will be affected by the tax on rain.
Chow’s desire to implement a rain tax—officially known as a stormwater charge—is consistent with a long-standing desire by city officials to implement such a tax going back to at least 2017 when it was halted by former Mayor John Tory, who didn’t think it would float with residents.
What does the rain tax actually entail?
As reported by TCS’s Mike Campbell, the proposal for a rain tax currently states that properties with more hard surfaces would incur higher taxes, as these surfaces contribute to runoff that can overwhelm the city’s sewer system during storms.
A statement (which has since been removed from the city’s website) said they would categorize residents according to their property size.
“For properties less than one hectare in size, there would be a tiered, flat rate stormwater charge based on the average hard surface area of all properties in each tier,” the statement read.
“Property tiers are determined by property size ranges for different property types – residential, multi-residential and condominium, and industrial commercial and institutional.”
However, presentations from the city also suggested that homeowners would likely be the ones to see an increase in their monthly bills due to rain falling from the sky, while condo and apartment owners would see savings of $3,700 and $27,600 per building, according to the National Post.
Speaking to Global News, Chow indicated that she has no intention of fully stopping the implementation of the rain tax currently scheduled for 2027 and that this pause on public consultations is so that the city can provide more information to homeowners on “how to make their land more porous” to address stormwater and flooding.
“How to make their land more porous, by giving them information, financial incentives, so they know how to switch to prevent the flooding that may happen when a big storm comes,” Chow said.
Chow further stated that she is now working with Toronto’s water division to develop incentives for people to move away from living in buildings with hard surfaces. How that will be achievable or affordable for the average homeowner is anyone’s guess.
Toronto’s rain tax goes viral
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Chow’s rain tax scheme has drawn ire and ridicule, not just in Canada but internationally.
In particular, Sky News hosts in Australia have had a field day poking fun at the absurdity of the tax while speculating how it would even be enforced.
“You thought it couldn’t get any worse. You’re being taxed for this; you’re being taxed for that. Don’t go to Toronto because they’re going to tax you when it rains. I’m not joking,” Sky News host Caleb Bond said.
Another host jokingly suggested the city deploy drones to monitor rooftops and driveways for rainfall, which may not be out of the question.
Chow has since posted a video on X saying not to believe what people on X are saying about her rain tax, denying that people will be taxed when it rains.
You can view this video below and make up your own mind.
