Author: Noah Jarvis
In fact, 68 per cent of Ontarians would rather the government cut spending rather than hike taxes to deal with the growing debt problem, according to a recent Leger poll. Only 13 per cent of Ontarians prefer hiking taxes.
Queen’s Park politicians are borrowing billions of dollars every year, and debt interest charges are spiking.
Premier Doug Ford needs to reduce the size and cost of government instead of making life more expensive for Ontarians by hiking their taxes.
The poll shows that Ontarians want the Ford government to be responsible with the province’s finances. Ford likes to claim his government has done just that. “We’ve been very fiscally responsible,” Ford said during the 2025 election campaign.
But the numbers tell a different story.
The Ford government has borrowed $147.5 billion in the past eight years. That’s an average of $18.4 billion in new debt every year.
And there’s no sign the Ford government will slow down its borrowing.
The Ford government has borrowed $58 billion these past two years, driving its total debt to $485.1 billion. Total debt is projected to blow past $500 billion next year if the Ford government continues heading down the same path.
Big borrowing from politicians means big interest bills for taxpayers.
Debt interest charges are costing Ontario taxpayers $17.2 billion this year, or $1,060 for everyone living in Ontario.
And big borrowing means debt interest charges are the fastest-growing expense for the Ontario government in the foreseeable future.
Debt interest will cost taxpayers $24 billion by 2030-31, according to the Financial Accountability Office. That’s two billion dollars every month. That’s $1,450 for every Ontarian by 2030.
That’s enough to build 945 schools or cut the provincial portion of the HST in half. But instead, it’s money being funnelled into the accounts of bond fund managers because politicians have been making irresponsible spending decisions for years.
Ending the borrowing binge needs to be a top priority for the Ford government. There are only two ways to get it done: hike taxes or cut government spending.
Raising taxes means making life more expensive for Ontarians already struggling with the rising cost of living. About 46 per cent of Ontarians say they are $200 or less away from not being able to meet their monthly expenses. Bigger tax bills mean more families come closer to slipping off the financial cliff.
And Ontario already has the third-highest top marginal tax rate among Canadian provinces and American states.
Hiking taxes would push the best and brightest who grew up in Ontario out of the province. And higher taxes would make Ontario a less attractive place for high-quality professionals to come and contribute to the province.
Ontarians understand that cutting government spending is the solution because the government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
Government revenues have increased by 24.7 per cent over the past five years. That’s about five per cent annually. But government spending has risen by 32.8 per cent during the same period.
And what are politicians spending that money on?
The Ontario legislature unanimously voted to give all MPPs a 35 per cent pay raise along with a gold-plated pension plan.
The government is continuing its political welfare program called the per-vote subsidy that hands the province’s political parties over $12 million a year from taxpayers.
And the government is shelling out $11.5 billion a year in corporate welfare — handouts to businesses so the government can pick winners and losers in the market with your money.
Ford has promised Ontarians he will never raise taxes. But the Ford government has a big appetite for spending that burdens taxpayers with big debt and interest charges.
Ford needs to listen to taxpayers concerned with rising debt and start tightening the government’s belt by cutting wasteful spending.
Noah Jarvis is the Ontario Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.