Mayor Rob Ford and Budget Chief Frank Di Giorgio stood side-by-side at a podium inside city hall late Tuesday afternoon as they jointly announced a plan to cut the land transfer tax by five per cent as part of the 2014 budget.

The tax, which is levied on top of a provincial land transfer fee, netted $344 million in revenue for the city last year and reducing it by five per cent would likely cost the city about $17 million in 2014.

“Folks, I cannot eliminate the land transfer tax but with the support of council I can start phasing it out,” Ford told reporters shortly after announcing the proposal. “This (reducing the tax by 5 per cent) is a small step in the right direction but we have to start somewhere.”

Ford has previously pledged to eliminate the land transfer tax by 2015 and last year he told CP24 that he would cut the tax by 10 per cent annually in effort to “nibble” away at it.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Ford said the tax unfairly targets the elderly and those with growing families and said his office has been “inundated” with calls from residents calling on him to reduce or eliminate it.

Ford then went on to say that efficiencies can be found in the budget to help make up for the lost revenue resulting from the proposed tax cut, though he did not offer any specifics on those efficiencies.

Di Giorgio, meanwhile, said he supports the cut but cautioned that it is far from a done deal.

“I agree in principal with the mayor’s wish to tackle the land transfer tax, but as all of you know any proposal that comes forward is ultimately reviewed by the executive committee and council in the end, so I am not sure what the ultimate fate of this will be and how it will flow but it will be an interesting ride,” he said.

Ford says he stands behind comments

During Tuesday’s press conference Ford was asked if he would apologize to a Toronto Star reporter that he accused of taking pictures of his kids, but he indicated that he has no plans to do so.

“I stand by every word I said with Mr. Black in my interview,” Ford said of the comment, which was made during a televised interview with Conrad Black.

Ford’s comment about Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale concerned a May confrontation in which the police were called to Ford’s home.

Dale has previously said he was writing a story about a plot of land adjacent to Ford's house that the mayor was looking to buy when Ford confronted him. Dale has also said that he was never on the mayor’s property and was only in the area to see the plot of land he was writing about.

“I have little kids. He's taking pictures of little kids," Ford said during the interview broadcast Monday night. “I don't want to say that word but you start thinking what this guy is all about."

Dale responds to Ford’s comments

Speaking with CP24 Tuesday night, Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale described the comments made by Ford in the interview as “malicious and defamatory,” and left no doubt as to what the mayor was implying

“I think it was clear to every reasonable person who watched,” Dale told CP24’s Jackie Crandles. “And that’s not only obviously false, and not only obviously malicious, but it’s mindboggling and it’s unbelievable that the Mayor of Toronto would say such a thing.”

 

Dale again reiterated that he was never on Ford’s property in May, and that he was there to photograph the parkland adjacent to the mayor’s home for a story he was putting together at the time.

 

“I took no pictures of his family,” Dale said. “I don’t think his kids were present.”

 

Regarding the mayor’s comments, Dale said he had spoken to a lawyer at the newspaper Tuesday, but had not made a decision yet on how to proceed with the matter.

Deputy mayor on Ford’s comments

Earlier on Tuesday, Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly criticized Ford for his comments about Dale, saying he thinks Ford should apologize for them.

Kelly also took issue with a comment Ford made during the interview, suggesting that a police investigation into his activities was politically motivated.

“It would appear to be the classic response where rather than addressing the issue itself he is attacking the person who either raised the issue or is associated with,” Kelly told reporters at city hall Tuesday morning. “It is not only regrettable but I think it is dead wrong.”

At one point during the 15-minute interview, Ford said he believes police used his friend Alexander Lisi as a “prop” to justify placing him under surveillance.

Lisi was subsequently charged with extortion in connection with his alleged efforts to recover a video that is believed to show Ford smoking crack cocaine and making homophobic and racist comments.

“I definitely think this is political,” Ford said during the interview. “I think they used Lisi as a prop to get to me and that is pretty well it.”

Ford’s comments have sparked questions over whether he should be allowed to participate in the police budget process, but on Tuesday Kelly said those questions may be moot because he is an elected member of council.

“There is no way of keeping him out of it,” he said. “He is free to offer comments and insights and I just hope he concentrates on the latter rather than the former.”

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