Balanced budget, Ontario Child Benefit, GTA Pooling gone
Budget-07: new era of economic strength

If you are a Mississauga taxpayer, the fourth in the Ontario government's budgets and plans brought us more in tangible benefits into Mississauga, and less in tax transfers out of Mississauga.

Starting in 2003-04 with an inherited $5.5 billion deficit, Ontario has successfully returned to financial health. For each of the first two fiscal years of the government's mandate, Ontario's deficit came down. This year is the second in a row where a budget is forecast, assuming that Ontario's financial reserve is not needed. The 2006-07 Ontario budget also finished in a small surplus. The 2007-08 lays the groundwork for a series of sustainable budget surpluses, thus stopping the growth in Ontario's public debt.

This year's budget expanded opportunities for the most vulnerable, and continued to make investments to strengthen education, health care and infrastructure. Highlights for Mississauga included the end of GTA Pooling, or the "Toronto Tax," by which Mississauga taxpayers annually contributed some $40 million to the City of Toronto, a measure implemented in 1997 by the Harris-Eves government. Over a period of six years, the tax will be phased out completely, and the expenses it funds uploaded to the Province.

"This has been a watershed year for the province of Ontario," said Finance Minister Greg Sorbara “The passage of the Budget Bill builds on our achievements over the previous years, and positions us for a stronger future.”

The 2007 Budget included groundbreaking help for Ontario’s most vulnerable, including:

• The new Ontario Child Benefit (OCB) program providing an additional $2.1 billion in benefits to children of low-income families.
• A two-per-cent increase in Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program payments;
• Increasing the hourly minimum wage to $10.25 in 2010;
• Enhancing child care through an additional $25 million in 2007-08, growing to $50 million in ongoing support starting in 2008-09;
• New affordable housing programs;
• Increased benefits for about 155,000 injured workers.

The Budget also took significant steps to strengthen Ontario’s economy, including:

• Eliminating the $5.5 billion deficit inherited in 2003-04;
• Transforming of Ontario’s property tax assessment system by integrating a four-year assessment cycle;
• Reducing high business education tax rates by $540 million, benefiting more than 500,000 businesses in 321 municipalities across the province
• Eliminating the capital tax more than one-and-a-half years earlier than planned;
• Extending the Apprenticeship Training Tax Credit until 2012 and includes six additional trades;

Finally, the Budget continues important investments in public services and infrastructure, including:

• $37.9 billion in health care spending in 2007-08;
• $18.3 billion in grants to school boards in 2007-08;
• $4 billion in base operating grants to colleges and universities in 2007-08;
• $390 million for postsecondary institutions to help with more classroom space, higher enrolments and training;
• $5.9 billion in infrastructure investments in 2007-08 for transit, highways, hospitals, schools, colleges, universities and rural infrastructure;
• $125 million in immediate environmental initiatives, including home energy audit rebates and funding for the Trees Ontario Foundation, enough to plant more than one million trees across the province;

"We have continued without a misstep on our plan from 2003,” said the Minister of Finance. “Our schools are better places to learn, our colleges and universities are expanding, our health care system is both healthier and more responsive, we are building new infrastructure across the province and our economy is growing."