Mayor John Tory, along with the mayors of four other big cities, have written an open letter asking the provincial and federal governments for more fiscal power.
Right now, cities need permission to bring in new taxes and fees, such as Tory's plan for road tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway. The mayors say that forces them to do their jobs with, "one hand tied behind our backs."
They say they want to lead a new approach with, "reasonable measures" to increase municipal revenues.
Enid Slack is the Director of the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. She says Canada's larger cities should have access to revenue sources other than property tax.
"If we look at our large cities, they face many challenges," she explains. "And yet, over the last many years, the revenue side hasn't changed."
Slack says this doesn't necessarily mean you'll pay more, just that cities will be able to use different kinds of taxes to pay for the wide range of services they deliver.
She says expecting cities to meet their expenditure demands solely through property taxes is, "not appropriate, it's not the best way to do it and it's certainly not going to be enough."
The full text from the mayors' letter is below:
An open letter from Canadian Mayors calling for increased revenue powers
"You rarely have to ask permission to do the right thing.
But this is the position our cities find themselves in as we attempt to do right by our growing populations.
There is no doubt that Canadian cities are where economic and social policy hits the pavement.
We are the financial engines of the country. We are where young people are looking for jobs and families are raising their children.
Cities are where our kids go to universities and where researchers are battling the diseases our loved ones suffer.
The innovations and technologies developed in our cities are providing new tools to help Canadians live and compete in the modern economy, improving our approach to everything from agriculture to construction to financial services.
When cities do well, our entire country benefits.
But still, we find ourselves begging for control over our own finances.
For too long, city governments have been required to rely on property taxes alone to support our growing operating budgets, with dollars stretched thinner and thinner as we serve the growing needs of the public.
At the same time, our transit systems, roads and vital infrastructure are suffering from decades of underinvestment.
It's time for that to change.
Across the country, mayors stand ready to lead a new approach - championing reasonable measures to increase municipal revenues so we can make a positive difference in our residents' lives.
Great responsibilities require great powers, and Canadian cities are at the forefront of a growing housing crisis, overwhelmed transit systems, alarming fentanyl abuse, mental health issues and the growing divide between haves and have nots.
As the federal government introduces stimulus funding for transit and infrastructure, cities are also required to match these funds.
This is a good deal - a real partnership that can put cities on a strong footing.
But we must still ask permission from provincial leaders to introduce new revenue measures to generate these dollars, requests that are always weighted against the particular political realities of a given moment in time.
As mayors of Canada's biggest cities we are ready to champion real solutions.
In Toronto, road tolls would finance a long-overdue transit expansion and ease congestion that is choking the most populated region in the country.
In Metro Vancouver, a lack of new funding tools has put a strain on property taxes and delayed crucial transit investments for years - while residents deal with crammed buses and gridlocked commutes.
In, Edmonton and Calgary, a new fiscal framework would enable more predictable, stable funding to manage growth.
And in Ottawa, we have just completed a feasibility study that outlines the possible construction of a subterranean truck tunnel to eliminate dangerous and disruptive heavy truck traffic in Ottawa's downtown core.
These large infrastructure projects come at a great cost, and it is imperative that we collaborate with the provincial and federal governments to move forward with a solution that works for all.
Canadian cities should be able to control their own destiny: mayors and councilors are elected to serve their residents and create a bright future for our cities but the fiscal power to do so sits with other levels of government.
As a result, we're forced to do our job with one hand tied behind our backs.
Our request is simple: give us the tools to do the job and the accountability that goes with them and we'll build great cities for the benefit of all Canadians."
Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of the City of Calgary
Don Iveson, Mayor of the City of Edmonton
Jim Watson, Mayor of the City of Ottawa
John Tory, Mayor of the City of Toronto
Gregor Robertson, Mayor of the City of Vancouver