New financial incentives to attract and retain business investment in Toronto are on the fast track through City Hall, thanks in part to the support of the Toronto Board of Trade.

The Board has long advocated that Toronto join its global competitor cities in offering incentives for new jobs and investment.

Now, an improved version of the City's plan is on its way to full City Council for approval, six months earlier than originally scheduled. If passed, as expected, it will offer tax breaks averaging 60% over ten years to new commercial and industrial building in the city and those businesses expanding their operations.

The Board of Trade played an important role in moving this essential economic development tool forward:

• The Board supported a limited, experimental version of the incentives and pushed successfully for the program to be adopted city-wide.
• To help ensure that business concerns over the proposed program were heard, the Board hosted a stakeholder consultation meeting for the City in February.
• The Board provided detailed advice based on its own study of how other cities were attracting job-creating, tax-paying businesses and investments.
• On May 8, the Board urged a City Committee to approve and expand the plan. Read More...