Alberta 2007 Budget

[Staypuft]

Just thought I'd throw a few things out there that we know already.

Tobacco tax is going up in the province by 16 percent or $5 a carton.

A big backlog of projects will be getting 18 billion dollars...these include roads, schools and hospitals.

Record spending of 33 billion dollars...and still a 2 billion dollar surplus.

[RW99]

Originally Posted by Staypuft

Tobacco tax is going up in the province by 16 percent or $5 a carton.

Smokers, start your bitchin!

On a serious note, nice to see some spending into the backlog of projects that have been waiting for awhile.

[Staypuft]

The opposition Liberals are, as expected, not pleased.
The main argument against the budget is that there is too much spending.
Granted, they admit that if the economy stays at the level it is at, the spending will not be a problem...it only would be if the Alberta economy falls apart...but c'mon, that's not going to happen.

Other things of note are an increased post-secondary student tax credit...from $475 to $600 monthly.
Also an increase in the charitable donation tax credit up to 21% from 12%.

Aside from the paving of 2,500 kilometres of highway, there's not a whole lot of other stuff in there that will affect Joe Average.

[FireFly]

I am so glad that Ed decided to help the schools get their work done. Really, there are some schools in a bad way all over this province. It's time to start looking after future generations again, and this is a great way to do it.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by FireFly

I am so glad that Ed decided to help the schools get their work done. Really, there are some schools in a bad way all over this province. It's time to start looking after future generations again, and this is a great way to do it.

How did he target school funding? The Herald is reporting

Despite billions of dollars in new construction projects, no new schools, post-secondary facilities or hospitals are in the budget for southern Alberta.
However, the government said announcements on new K-12 schools and post-secondary facilities could be rolled out in the coming months, as $600 million in combined capital cash over the next three years hasn‚t yet been allocated for the departments of Education and Advanced Education.
An additional $136 million will be spent over the next three years to support a new tuition policy that will limit annual tuition increases to Alberta‚s rate of inflation starting in fall 2007.
Repairing crumbling schools in Calgary won‚t be an easy task in the next year, as the government has allocated $96 million across Alberta for major school maintenance, such as repairing leaky roofs or poor ventilation systems.
And only $15 million of that will be headed to the Calgary Board of Education, which is facing a deferred maintenance backlog of $466 million.

[jolinar of malkshor]

How about a tax cut eddie boy???

Nothing has changed since Ralph has left. Spend, spend, spend.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

How did he target school funding? The Herald is reporting

Hmph. I was under the impression that he gave way more to school repair infrastructure. Forgive me, I'm still at work and don't have time to read up on this.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

How about a tax cut eddie boy???

Nothing has changed since Ralph has left. Spend, spend, spend.

You can't be serious, hell I would pay more taxes if it meant that the education and health care problems could be rectified. No one thinks about how poor Alberta's health system is until they have to use it

[FireFly]

Not to mention that Alberta already has the lowest tax rate in Canada...

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by return to the red

You can't be serious, hell I would pay more taxes if it meant that the education and health care problems could be rectified. No one thinks about how poor Alberta's health system is until they have to use it

You can't be serious???? We spend more per capita on healthcare than any other province....

Keeeeeeeppppppp on spending, instead of making some meaningful changes to the healthcare system.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

You can't be serious???? We spend more per capita on healthcare than any other province....

Keeeeeeeppppppp on spending, instead of making some meaningful changes to the healthcare system.

And a tax cut will take care of that how?

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Not to mention that Alberta already has the lowest tax rate in Canada...

So what??? Does that mean it can't go lower? Especially when we have....what....15 years straight of surpluses in the billions of dollars.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by FireFly

And a tax cut will take care of that how?

When did I say a tax cut would solve the health care problem....oh that is right....I didn't.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

You can't be serious???? We spend more per capita on healthcare than any other province....

Keeeeeeeppppppp on spending, instead of making some meaningful changes to the healthcare system.

sorry I am misinformed, but that goes to show how mismanaged the health care system in Alberta is as I'm sure I'm not the only person unaware of this

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

So what??? Does that mean it can't go lower? Especially when we have....what....15 years straight of surpluses in the billions of dollars.

That's awfully short term planning. What happens when you cut taxes and the economy collapses? We can't boom forever, especially with growth like this. After every boom, there is a bust. So sure, let's cut taxes, so that when we bust, we have a 400% tax hike to cover the fact that we no longer get revenue from businesses. Great thinking. The current tax rate is one that most of us can live at. Cutting taxes doesn't fix anything, and doesn't help us prepare for the future.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by return to the red

sorry I am misinformed, but that goes to show how mismanaged the health care system in Alberta is as I'm sure I'm not the only person unaware of this

I would agree 100% that it is mis-managed....alll the more reason NOT to keep throwing money at it.

How about throwing more money at education, providing FREE education to medical students in exchange for a certain period of service in Alberta?? Something like this would make a BIG difference in the quality and access to the health care system.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

When did I say a tax cut would solve the health care problem....oh that is right....I didn't.

You were called on the fact that it's a spend budget and you'd rather have tax cuts. Your response was that we should fix health care. I wasn't sure how those two were related either. I guess you're just one of those who likes to bitch about everything, but doesn't put forth any ideas for change. You want better health care? Move to Switzerland. Your tax rate will skyrocket.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

I would agree 100% that it is mis-managed....alll the more reason NOT to keep throwing money at it.

How about throwing more money at education, providing FREE education to medical students in exchange for a certain period of service in Alberta?? Something like this would make a BIG difference in the quality and access to the health care system.

But first they have to throw money at a study to see if that would work... either way, they're throwing money at the issue. So now, in addition to throwing money at health care, you want to also throw money at educating doctors? Isn't that counter to your original complaint? The differences wouldn't be felt for potentially decades if you do something like that. How about just giving immigrant doctors a quicker way to get liscenced in Canada? LOOK! I'm not throwing money at the issue!

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

I would agree 100% that it is mis-managed....alll the more reason NOT to keep throwing money at it.

How about throwing more money at education, providing FREE education to medical students in exchange for a certain period of service in Alberta?? Something like this would make a BIG difference in the quality and access to the health care system.

Interesting Idea, for a short period of time anyhow. People are always drawn to the more lucrative money and as Firefly suggested there is no gaurantee that this economy will be here umpteen years down the road

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by FireFly

That's awfully short term planning. What happens when you cut taxes and the economy collapses? We can't boom forever, especially with growth like this. After every boom, there is a bust. So sure, let's cut taxes, so that when we bust, we have a 400% tax hike to cover the fact that we no longer get revenue from businesses. Great thinking. The current tax rate is one that most of us can live at. Cutting taxes doesn't fix anything, and doesn't help us prepare for the future.

Oooohhhh I see. Cutting taxes is short term thinking....but having year after year multiple percentage increases in government spending is better and more appropriate to cushion the bust cycle. I get it now......instead of having to increase taxes to what 400% which would be what 30, 40% provincial income tax (which you wouldn't have to do, increase it back to the 10% mark) we should cut the public service by 400% to rain in spending and prevent a deficit. Lets hire all these new medical personel and then fire them when the economy goes to .