Spend Quebec surplus on transit: QS
Quebec has an $8-billion surplus and Québec solidaire says some of it should go into funding transit – this as the STM prepares to hike fares on July 1.
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Kate
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steph 07:39 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
That surplus was on the backs of teachers and health workers that have been living austerity cuts for years. Maybe they should get some of it back.
Douglas 08:06 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
Time to cut down the qst 9.975% tax. Such a drain on peoples lives. They won’t do it though.
Kate 08:29 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
Quite the contrary, Douglas. The more you buy, the more you contribute, and we need the funds so we don’t squeeze teachers and nurses down to the bone, among other things. Unless you prefer hiking corporate taxes?
Michael Black 09:01 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
It might be nice to lower the pst by a bit. They raised it a bit at one point.
On the other hand, I’ve always qualified for gst and pst rebate. I may get more money back than what I spend on gst/pst. Certainly asva quarterly chunk, the rebate means I can spend it, while a bit less gst/pst per item can’ buy much by itself.
Another five years and I can get a senior’s bus pass. That will impact a lot, about when I will likely need it. I’ve never been able to justify the cost of a monthly pass.
Michael
Ephraim 11:33 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
We should put down some of the deficit, especially the part in foreign currencies, or put it in the Generations fund for future deficit reduction. And we should lower the most regressive of all taxes, sales tax. It’s a tax that hurts the poor the most. QST brings in about 16 billion a year. While we look to collect more from outside sources that should be paying (like AirBnB, Netflix, etc). we can manage to lower it. Like bringing it down from 9.975% to 7.5% should bring down about 4 billion, but should also lead to a lower amount of rebates and increased spending. Probably would hurt the balance in the range of 3 billion… and be a lot more palatable.
Joey 11:40 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
This one-year surplus, net of promised debt-reduction payments, would be almost enough to fund the entire pink line – restoring some dignity and capacity to our overtaxed transit system, easing road congestion and giving Francois Legault and Valerie Plante long-lasting achievements. And the taxpayer wouldn’t feel a thing.
SMD 12:04 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
@Ephraim $3.48 billion will go into the Generations fund, $371 million more than projected. Like Joey and QS, I wish the rest was going into the pink line and other public transit projects.
David100 12:32 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
1/2 Generations, 1/2 transit sounds good to me too.
Ephraim 14:06 on 2019-06-26 Permalink
The Generations fund does a good job of reducing Quebec’s debt and ensuring that the next generation doesn’t have to pay for the folly of the past. Most of the money is from HQ surplus and water charges… but it’s nice to see some more go in. The lower the debt, the less they have to pay for the excesses of previous generations.
Would still like to see a gradual reduction of sales taxes towards zero… they really do tax the poor more than the rich. We could at least end the taxation on toilet paper, tampons and tissues and classify them as grocery.