Montreal hopes forums on new revenue streams help avoid ‘hard choices’

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A municipal taxation forum aimed at finding new revenue streams for the city of Montreal was held Monday at the Biodome.

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Attracting 100 guests from the cultural, economic, social and academic fields, the forum took place before the financial agreement with the City of Quebec expired in 2024. This means Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante and the state will soon have to strike a new deal.

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“The idea today was to develop a work plan for the next two years,” said Dominique Olivier, chairman of the city executive committee, at a post-forum press conference. “The next budget, the 2024 budget and financial agreement.”

Rising rates of inflation, and rising costs and incomes based almost exclusively on property taxes, have forced the Plante government to “provide adequate, stable and regular funding for local government services without passing the bills on to future generations.” held consultations to find a “lasting solution to ensure

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Plante calls Montreal’s reliance on property taxes (which account for 70% of its income) an “old-fashioned model,” and new revenue streams include taxes on services such as water use and waste emissions. It said it could include “environmental finance” measures. Increase tax percentages on gasoline or vehicle registration, add tolls to roads, or create zero-emission zones.

Ollivier said some interesting solutions were proposed on Monday.

“Environmental taxation is not the only solution to diversifying income,” she said. “But it has to be part of the set of measures we put in place, and above all, it has to be used with the goal of not only changing behavior immediately, but also helping to manage certain costs. I have.”

Olivier stressed the importance of agreements with state governments, saying without them Montreal would not be able to achieve its ambitions.