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Transit improvement would allow some residents to ditch a second or third car, an annual savings of about $11,000, she added.

“When people weigh the numbers and do the math I think they will be supportive,” she said.

Along with gas tax hikes, the report suggests increasing corporate income tax and capturing some HST. Another scenario caps the gas tax hike at 5¢ and raises the HST by .5%.

Premier Kathleen Wynne echoed the concerns of Ms. Golden that a transit funding formula is needed.

“If we abdicate this responsibility now and we do not make investments in transit, then future generations will look back and say: ’What were you thinking?”’

But the governing Liberals say they haven’t decided if they will raise the gas tax and borrow up to $2.50 for every $1 the province raises in new revenue, as the report suggested.

But hiking the tax on gasoline will drive up the cost of everything and won’t create any jobs, said the Progressive Conservatives.

“I think the people will revolt,” said Tory critic Doug Holyday, a former Toronto city councillor.

“That’s no more than a sin tax, just like increasing the cost of alcohol and cigarettes because you want people to quit smoking and drinking, so they want people to quit driving and they want the drivers to pay for the transportation of the whole area.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she doesn’t want to give the Liberals another “blank cheque” to waste people’s money with tax hikes.

“There’s no way that we’re going to be supporting new taxes, whether it’s gasoline tax of five or 10 cents, whether it’s a half a per cent increase in the HST,” she said.