Paul Pantel says even though he worked long hours, being Downtown during the Whiteout street parties was worth it.
"It was fun, it was a blast," said Pantel.
The hot dog cart owner says it also helped his bottom line.
"Business was good, you now I probably doubled what I normally make in a day,” said Pantel.
Like other businesses, Pantel must charge sales tax. Now Mayor Brian Bowman says the city should get its cut.
"We do need to have some movement from other levels of government who are quite frankly cashing in when these events happen,” said Bowman.
The city is on the hook for half of the $2.2 million cost for the street parties. True North is paying the rest. Bowman says it's time for Ottawa and Broadway to share tax money earned through businesses during events like these.
"There is GST and PST being collected by all of that economic activity which was significant and yet property tax payers are paying for a portion of those proceeds,” said Bowman.
In a statement the Pallister government says Winnipeg already receives a generous amount of funding from the province.
"Thanks to our government, the City of Winnipeg has never had greater flexibility and fair say with their funding as they do today. Winnipeg decides its priorities and makes its own spending choices."
CTV News has yet to receive a response from the federal government.
This year, city departments like police and transit are being told to look within their departments to pay the party tab.
"In the end what we end up doing is reducing services," said Ross Eadie, the city councillor for Mynarski.
Eadie agrees the city should get GST and PST revenue. But he says other sources should also be considered like the city’s hotel tax.
"I'm sure there were people who were staying in hotel rooms and paying that there's a potential source for some money," said Eadie.
Community services committee chair Mike Pagtakhan says the idea is worth exploring.
"It kind of make sense, because it is within the hospitality industry," said Pagtakhan.
