The bad news is that the City of Toronto is now looking into instituting a new tax on bottled water. Yes, on bottled water. The proposed tax would be 5% on a bottle of water produced inside Ontario and 10% on a bottle of water that is imported into the Province of Ontario.

The reasons given for proposing this tax is to help the city pay for the recycling of the bottles and to encourage Toronto residents to drink tap water. Why is the type of water that we choose to drink any business of the city? Of course Mayor Miller is supporting the plan. Mayor Miller supports any tax. Apparently this brilliant idea came from south of the border – Chicago to be exact where they recently approved a five-cent tax on bottled water in their 2008 budget. Does this sound like just another cash grab to you?

The good news is that it most likely will never happen. The proposed tax on bottled water appears to be illegal because under the new City of Toronto Act, the act clearly prohibits sales taxes other than on alcohol, tobacco or entertainment. It would also cost the city a fortune to set up the department to collect the tax, therefore making the program far too expensive to administer. In addition the City of Toronto cannot tax manufacturers directly. They would have to make the store owners collect the tax, creating an incredible hardship on the small independently owned stores. It could potentially force them to stop selling water.

Why doesn’t the city look to impose taxes on something that isn’t healthy? Let’s get all of the sugared-up pop with no nutritive value off the store shelves instead!