Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunk
The mistake they have made is a lot less what they're spending on, than how we're dependent on a volatile resource for base operating revenue - enabling artificially low tax rates. Again, yeah let's look for more efficiency, let's look at reasonably reining in salaries through a variety of ways. But none of that closes that $7 billion deficit.
Why $7 billion? Where does that come from? Simply reading the budget. There aren't that many sources of revenue. Corporate taxes, personal income taxes, education property tax, investments, transfers, various user fees and....non renewable resource revenue, especially royalties.
In other provinces, they simply don't have that last revenue line item (or at least have a lot less), so they use taxes and user fees to gain the revenue they require to run the province (some rely more on transfers). Here, we have lower corporate, personal and property taxes because our budget is propped up by royalties. When they largely disappear as they have this year, suddenly those low taxes aren't enough to pay for services.
In 2012 this was the Province's Revenue Mix:
Every $1 drop in oil over a year costs the treasury $215 million. We're at $45 now, versus a forecasted $95. Drop in the dollar somewhat offsets this loss.
http://www.alberta.ca/budget101.cfm
The premier in his words this morning on the matter:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/popupau...Ids=2648060765 |
We don't. An average person in Ontario, BC etc. pays less in income tax than we do here. It's only the highest earners (138K+) that pay proportionally less.
I read the same argument about our property taxes. I can't verify, but a case was made that we only appear to pay less because of how we calculate them, Something to do with all the service fees we pay on our gas and utilities bills where others include them in the property tax.
And then there is utilities themselves.
We are not that privileged here. That myth must end, but I don't blame the PCs to never bring that up.
And the 7B is from their bloated budget. Cut the fat first and then let's look at what we really need.
Spending problems are bigger than revenue. Always been,