Spending and Services
Expenditures per household, adjusted for inflation, Toronto, 2000-2016
Although there is a perception that spending has been growing rapidly in recent years, Figure 1 suggests that Toronto’s operating expenditures per household, when adjusted for inflation, were actually lower in 2016 than in 2000 or 2012. Toronto still does not have a spending problem.
Major operating expenditures funded from tax revenues and user fees, Toronto, 2018
Operating expenditures are funded by taxes, rates (user fees), intergovernmental transfers, and other smaller revenues. The largest areas of expenditure funded from tax revenues in 2018 are police, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), debt charges, and fire services (Figure 2). Rate-based services are funded by user fees and cover expenditures on water, parking, and solid waste (Figure 3).
