Here’s the sad truth about Ontario’s economy: it’s been stagnating for decades.

For too long, the Ontario government has been running up debt and imposing big tax bills. The economy has suffered as a result.

A suffering economy means it’s harder for families to get ahead, because there are fewer job opportunities and chances for a raise.

The Ford government has an opportunity to deliver sweeping tax relief in its next budget to kickstart a new era of economic growth.

Ontario’s real GDP per capita has grown at a paltry average annual rate of just 0.6 per cent since 1990. That’s less than half the rate of the rest of the Canadian economy over the same period.

Between 1960 and 1989, Ontario’s economy grew on average five times faster each year than it has since 1990.

How did Ontario get here?

The answer is high taxes and soaring government debt.

For more than three decades, with few exceptions, Ontario governments have tried to grow the economy by growing government.

Since 2005, Ontario has run just two balanced budgets and government spending has vastly outpaced inflation. All of this led to $300 billion in new debt.

Politicians try to justify running deficits by saying they were needed to “invest” in the economy and fuel economic growth.

But more debt didn’t help. Instead, Ontario taxpayers are now on the hook for more than $1 billion a month in debt interest charges.

It feels odd that this needs to be said, but here’s the obvious point: more government debt and high taxes are bad for the economy.

That’s why Premier Doug Ford must put bold tax relief on the table.

Tax relief is crucial because of the cost-of-living crisis. About 50 per cent of people say they’re $200 away from not being able to pay their bills.

If taxpayers can’t pay their bills, they certainly can’t spend, invest and grow the economy.

Lower taxes fuel affordability and economic growth. Ford can kickstart a new era of Ontario economic prosperity by making three bold moves to deliver $16 billion in tax relief: cut the HST by three percentage points, make the gas tax cut permanent and end tax-on-tax at the pumps.

Sales taxes make everything more expensive. Cutting the sales tax will make everything from a new stove to new work boots to a new minivan more affordable. And a three-percentage-point cut would save the typical family more than $2,100 next year.

Making the Ford government’s 6.4 cent per litre gas tax cut permanent is also crucial. It saves the typical family more than $400 a year at the pumps, which makes it more affordable to drive to work, take the kids to school and get to hockey practice. Ford should announce the gas tax cut is here to stay.

Finally, it’s time to end tax-on-tax. At the pumps right now, Ontarians are hit with gas taxes, a carbon tax and a sales tax. And that sales tax isn’t just applied on the pump price of fuel, but also on the gas and carbon taxes. Taxing a tax is fundamentally wrong and must end. Doing so would save families hundreds of dollars a year.

How can Ford deliver $16 billion in tax relief and still balance the budge?

Maintain health an education spending, then end corporate welfare and rollback the rest of the budget to 2022-23 levels. That would more than offset the tax cuts. And Ontario would have a balanced budget with a healthy surplus of more than $5 billion.

Ontario needs to cut taxes and balance the budget at the same time. Taxpayers can’t afford higher taxes. And Ontarians don’t want to keep spending $1 billion a month on debt interest or see those costs rise further.

After years of economic stagnation, it’s time for the Ontario government to try a new approach.

It’s time for Ford to declare that the way to grow the economy is not through government spending, but through getting the government out of the way. And that starts with tax relief.