David Miller, Toronto's re-elected mayor, heralded himself as fiscally responsible when he was out campaigning for a second term just a few weeks ago. He told voters he was a man who could be trusted to keep spending under control and tax rates stable. This was before the mayor secured a convincing 300,000 vote victory in the municipal election.

Now Mr. Miller is showing his true colours. Since receiving a second mandate, he has revealed Toronto's fiscal footing is not really as solid as his campaign made it out to be.

Only days after the election, Mayor Miller was waving an empty cup in front of Premier Dalton McGuinty looking for a handout. Yet the premier wisely rebuffed his request for a point of the provincial sales tax. So the mayor decided to move his peddling to Ottawa. However, Prime Minister Stephen Harper walked right by a proposal to transfer one-point the GST to Toronto city coffers.

All this begging for cash should leave Torontonians wondering whether Mr. Miller was being honest with the state of the city's finances during the election campaign. He never mentioned his vision for the city was entirely dependent on cash he had not secured from the federal and provincial governments. But then again, this is the same politician who, during a televised debate, skirted a question from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation on whether he would raise taxes or introduce new ones.

Candidate Miller was mute on the topic of the city using its new taxing powers under the City of Toronto Act during the election campaign.

Mayor Miller is set to remove his fiscally responsible mask. Just weeks into his second term, it looks like Toronto taxpayers should prepare to face new Toronto taxes. City officials have signaled that parking fees will be taxed by the city. Miller has tried to pass of this cash grab as an environmentally friendly policy but Toronto taxpayers will recognize it as a tax increase.

Mayor Miller's campaign refused to acknowledge its poor fiscal showing in his first term. He stuck to a line that he was the leader of a city which won awards for its fiscal management. That campaign message was far from reality: Last year's budget projection showed a 17.3 percent increase in spending and at the same time added $282-million to Toronto's debt. Under Miller's leadership the city's debt now stands at $2-billion dollars.

Mr. Miller's landslide election victory has given him the confidence to continue with his beg, tax and spend policies. The begging has clearly failed. We have no reason to believe spending will decrease. So the real question is what will be taxed The mayor is about to switch from begging Ottawa and Queen's Park to blaming them for his tax increase.