Show me the money

[Buzzard]

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2005/0...214739-sun.html

Not sure what to make of this. Extra dough is always good, but for the amount we would receive, I think could be better spent on other areas. Oh well, free groceries for a few weeks. When's Alberta's fiscal year up anyway?

[Eagle Eye]

I agree with Fotze, we should be putting this extra money away. We should do something like Alaska where they have put so much money into thier 'Heritage Fund' (don't actually know what it is called) that they gett payments every year instead of once in awhile. It could aslo help sustain our economy in times of bad.

Does 100-300 dollars mean a lot to most people? Not really.

[Faid1]

Agreed, I'd rather the money be spent on longer term projects than letting Joe Albertan buy a new HDTV.

[ken0042]

If they were to give $500 to each and every person, we'd be looking at around $1.5 Billion.

Don't get me wrong, and extra $500 would be nice, but it wouldn't change my life or anything. But if we were to throw that money towards infastructure, that would give about $500 million to the city of Calgary.

Having the McKenzie LRT run finished in 3 years would help me more in the long run than $500 right now.

[habernac]

fata the check for $300, give me a bloody tax break.

[Regulator75]

Tax break please, just say no to impulse cheques from the Feds. It's a trick!
You will save more cash in the long run.

[MarchHare]

Meh, neither a $300 rebate nor a modest tax break really excites me, but the tax break less so; $300 spread over 12 months amounts to an extra $25/month in my pockets...I won't even notice that, but a $300 cheque would allow me to do something fun.

Better to invest in infrastructure or put the savings away, etc.

[Ironhorse]

Originally posted by fotze+Sep 13 2005, 08:25 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (fotze @ Sep 13 2005, 08:25 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-habernac@Sep 13 2005, 08:14 AM
fata the check for $300, give me a bloody tax break.

Exactly, give me habernac's $300 check. :P [/b][/quote]
Yeah, so you can pay for all the higher natural gas bills this winter after the government bunged up deregulation...

[mykalberta]

Tax break is never going to happen. Government would rather send out a rebate of 1000 to everyone than give a tax break cause once you have the tax, you never want to give up your ability to get it.

As per the rebate/tax break thing. Its a bad idea. It brings us one step closer to Ontario and Quebec bringing in Trudeau politics again. If that were to happen, I would happily use by Visa and move down to the states to live.

I would too rather seen it spent on Alberta made infrastructure or maybe even a few Nuclear Power plants west of Calgary or north of Edmonton. I would aslo not report a surplus of anything more than 2.5 billion no matter what. It is a mistake for the PC to keep flaunting it. Especially at 1.09/litre. That is one of those "vote-for-ideas" that could turn the tide of elections.

What led CTV and CBC news this morning, fed ministers getting together to discuss energy prices and "why prices differ across country" (no wonder they are in politics if they cant figure that one out for themselves) and what immediately follows that - thats right Klien giving a rebate to ALBERTANS for higher gas prices.

The Fed Libs are walking an extremely slippery slope with this issue. One one hadn the fed coffers are overflowing with money from resource revenue already. On the other hand the NDP are gaining speed in the San Frans of the world where the PC dont have a chance, but what used to be the counterbalance for the Libs to the PC rural vote.

I cant believe I have been thinking this (I am about as right as they come and proud as hell about it), but I might actually vote (oh I feel sick to my stomach) Lib the next fed election just to keep the NDP adn Bloc from possibly froming an alliance.

We all know what will happen in Alberta if the fringes of the Lib have their way. It will be a dark day and a day in which everyone in Albertan will have to choose a side. And I guarantee you that 50%+1 is enough - especially when you have the 800 lb gorilla as a friend.

MYK

[ken0042]

So, mykalberta is going to spend his rebate cheque on buying a gorilla?

[mykalberta]

No, I grew out of the fat gf phase a while ago. Now its better if baby dont got back.

MYK

[Tron_fdc]

BUILD SOME fataing ROADS

Individually, what's $300? A day at Costco? Collectively, that's a lot of money that can be spent on infrastructure, such as interchanges that make my life less stressful when I'm driving, or bike paths that keep habernacs commute a little less like a chariot race in Shanghai.

I really hate the idea of cuttiing cheques to the people of Alberta, especially considering half the people who live here don't need it. Maybe I'll give mine to charity or something.

[arsenal]

Originally posted by Tron_fdc@Sep 13 2005, 09:21 AM
Maybe I'll give mine to charity or something.

I could be a charity

[Clarkey]

They need to build a better f'n road up to Fort McMurray.

These rebate checks are in effect a subsidy to electronics retailers, casino's and liquor and drugs. I won't be sending my cheque back but I'd rather they do something else with it.

[Reaper]

It's great how so many people could do without the $300 rebate cheque. I'm glad everyone is doing so well financially.

However, due to rising fuel prices my wife and I have been experiencing much smaller amounts of disposable income these days.

If you don't work in an oil related industry and your salary doesn't grow with the price of oil you feel it much more when the price of everything rises.

A $300 rebate cheque for my wife and I would basically mean that we could afford to have xmas this year.

It's not like it will make us rich but it would certainly be nice to be able to feel some relief from the pinch of high oil prices.

Never in my life did I think it would cost $46 to fill up a Dodge Neon.

[Cube Inmate]

There are a lot of things that *could* be done with the surplus that would benefit Albertans collectively. A road here and there, an actual hospital in central Calgary, etc. To me, though, that's not the point...the point is that gov't should only take as much as is necessary to fund its programs as budgeted...any surplus is OUR MONEY, wrongfully taken, and we should be free to spend it how we want.

That said, I don't like the idea of an across-the-board rebate, since some people contribute so much more to the tax base than others. Then again, those who don't contribute *as much* are probably much more affected by the high price of energy these days....

I don't envy Ralph.

Edited to add the above *...*

[RedHot25]

Originally posted by Reaper@Sep 13 2005, 04:31 PM
It's great how so many people could do without the $300 rebate cheque. I'm glad everyone is doing so well financially.

However, due to rising fuel prices my wife and I have been experiencing much smaller amounts of disposable income these days.

If you don't work in an oil related industry and your salary doesn't grow with the price of oil you feel it much more when the price of everything rises.

A $300 rebate cheque for my wife and I would basically mean that we could afford to have xmas this year.

It's not like it will make us rich but it would certainly be nice to be able to feel some relief from the pinch of high oil prices.

Never in my life did I think it would cost $46 to fill up a Dodge Neon.

Agreed.

That's the thing...there are A LOT of people who a couple of hundred bucks makes A HUGE difference too. HUGE.

[Wookie]

I want a high speed train from Calgary - Edmonton - FortMac...

After that, a nuclear plant north, or even build one in Saskatchewan that is Alberta owned

Have some massive investment in oil sands projects!

If it starts to get a lot cheaper to get oil out maybe Reaper can have x-mas.. hehe in 2015