[GGG]

One thing to remember is that 5 years ago in the boom we had the lowest provincial taxes ever, the lowest federal taxes ever and the amoung the lowest residential municipal taxes in Canada’s history. We also had the highest median incomes in Canada by a large margin.

These things don’t exist anymore we are rebounding to the mean and that requires a substantial increase in taxation as taxes shift from business to residential. Yes continuous cost cutting should be pursued and wages should be frozen until they are back in line with a post boom Calgary but fundamentally when you count on business for over 50% of taxes and the value is cut by 1/2 you have lost about 12.5% or so of your total tax base.