'I have had enough:' Mammoliti flips off taxes in photo sent to media

A Toronto city councillor has released a photo of himself flipping the bird in an effort to bring attention to what he is calling a proposed new “roof tax.”

The photo surfaced hours after Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti sent out a press release expressing his frustration over a proposed new stormwater charge for homeowners in the city.

The photo, emailed to members of the media by the Ward 7 councillor’s office, shows Mammoliti raising both middle fingers with a caption that reads “tax this.”

“I think taxpayers will be more than happy to know somebody is representing their voice at city hall,” Mammoliti said of the photo Monday.

“In an effort of representing the taxpayers, I have had enough.”

Mammoliti claims that the new stormwater charge is just “unwarranted gouging” on the part of the city.

“It means that if the tax-and-spend socialists on council get their way, starting around 2019, taxpayers with a roof (hard surface) will be paying more taxes ($130-$401 for residential properties) for a service that they already pay for,” his press release read.

“I feel that these new taxes and the underhanded way in which they are being implemented (are) totally unconscionable.”

Stormwater charges are currently in place in several Canadian cities, including Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, London, Mississauga, Kitchener and Ottawa.

Asked if he thought some might find the photo to be unprofessional, Mammoliti told CP24, “Anybody who says I’m unprofessional, I’ll give them the finger.”

In a tweet sent out Monday evening, Mammoliti claims that people have reached out to him for “signed copies” of the picture.