Alberta Politics Thread

[CarlLester]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Again, this is all in the context of a jurisdiction which, even after all of the listed tax increases, will still have the lowest tax burden in Canada (and one of the lowest in North America), at least as I understand it.

Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Says the guy who no longer lives here.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Again, this is all in the context of a jurisdiction which, even after all of the listed tax increases, will still have the lowest tax burden in Canada (and one of the lowest in North America), at least as I understand it.

Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Really? How do you figure? We get taxed 30% on our income each pay cheque (20% or 30% federally then another 10% provincially). Then we get taxed another 5% gst with what income we have left and on property and carbon taxes. If you decide you want to save or invest that money you get taxed again. Basically we're paying around 40% tax.

Even if you're in the lowest income bracket you'll still pay 20% in taxes each year.

Tell me again how Alberta/Canada has low taxes?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Really? How do you figure? We get taxed 30% on our income each pay cheque (20% or 30% federally then another 10% provincially). Then we get taxed another 5% gst with what income we have left and on property and carbon taxes. If you decide you want to save or invest that money you get taxed again. Basically we're paying around 40% tax.

Even if you're in the lowest income bracket you'll still pay 20% in taxes each year.

Tell me again how Alberta/Canada has low taxes?

And what value do you get for that money?

We have services that out rank our neighbour to the South in all categories except Highways and Military. Our public schools are fantastic, our health care system is adequate (this area really needs to be looked at), our debt relative to the rest of the world is tiny. etc, etc,

I think every complaint about taxes should start with the statement. In order to pay less taxes I would like to cut waste by 5% and then cut the following services from the government.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jacks

It's all lies, there are no efficiencies to be found. We need more revenue.

Originally Posted by Makarov

Again, this is all in the context of a jurisdiction which, even after all of the listed tax increases, will still have the lowest tax burden in Canada (and one of the lowest in North America), at least as I understand it.

Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Heres the thing: While we might enjoy among the least taxes in the country, and I'm not sure about that I'll have to check, the highest marginal tax rate in Alberta is still going to be 48.5%. For that to be the lowest its still pretty steep, especially in light of what we get in return which ranks among the lowest in the country by most metrics.

Further, the thing that upsets me is this: look at the current economy in Alberta. Companies are realizing that current revenues are down and revenue forecasts arent looking good. What is the end result? The natural reaction is to cut costs, the result of which is a lot of good people losing their jobs.

The Government though? It sees that revenues are down and rather than take any action to respond to that it simply plans to 'magic up' some more revenue.

Do you realize how stupid that is? On every level?

The Official Government Action Plan is to kick the economy while its down, mug its wallet and run while stifling all growth.

[Canehdianman]

The CEO of AHS sent a letter to CTV yesterday asking them to correct their reporting on the issue. Here it is.

Your recent news story about sick leave for AHS non-union employees does not accurately reflect the situation at AHS. It would appear your reporter focused on the anomalies, not the norm.
On average, AHS’ non-union employees report 6.5 sick days a year. A five-year comparison shows AHS’ sick hours are either at, or lower than, other western provincial health care authorities. We are also lower than the national Statistics Canada average of seven sick days for non-union employees.

AHS has 8,500 non-union employees. Many of them are in frontline roles, such as intensive care unit managers, mental health clinic professionals, food service supervisors, clinical practice leads, and nurse practitioners. Manager roles account for 38 per cent of our non-union employees.

For clarity, the actual number of non-union employees who took the full allowance of paid sick leave was 56 out of the total 8,500 people. The majority of this group (64 per cent) went on to long term disability (LTD) due to very serious health issues.

Our union and non-union employees are the heroes of our health care system – they make our work possible. In turn, we work hard to ensure our people are healthy and ready to provide safe, quality care for all Albertans. We are proud of the measures we have in place to support them when they are ill or injured.

Regards,

Verna Yiu
Interim President and CEO
Alberta Health Services

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm sorry, but at this point, I'm having trouble believing anything that comes from the government or any of the other government sponsored organizations without third party verification.

[the_only_turek_fan]

I have a question for those that voted for the NDP. Do you regret your vote?

I am being serious here. I want to really get a gauge of what people think.

[OMG!WTF!]

I don't know how you can read the NDP platform and suggest they are not running afoul of everything they said. To sum things up, they said they were going to balance the budget by 2018 by "asking those who can afford it to give a little more" while improving services and making life more affordable for the 90%. What we have is almost the exact opposite. Property tax in Calgary is going to be unbelievable next year. Cities get no carbon rebate at all. Anyone who lives in a house is going to pay that bill. I'd rather pay a one time tax when I sell my house a la the Prentice plan than be stuck with a property tax hike I get to pay for forever.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'm sorry, but at this point, I'm having trouble believing anything that comes from the government or any of the other government sponsored organizations without third party verification.

This says a heck of a lot more about you than it does about the current political atmosphere.

You've been bleating about the sky falling for months now in any and every thread that I've gone in that was marginally Alberta politics related.

Time to switch to decaf, April.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

This says a heck of a lot more about you than it does about the current political atmosphere.

You've been bleating about the sky falling for months now in any and every thread that I've gone in that was marginally Alberta politics related.

Time to switch to decaf, April.

Oh I'm, let me do this from your viewpoint.

The leader is good, the leader is wise, there aren't any problems with the current government, they are competent and smart and oh so polite and thrifty.

And let me ask you why we should just have complete faith in an organization that finds itself under the gun, not only for things like staff sick days, but horrendous expense abuse. poor delivery times, and sky rocketing costs?

I'm sorry that I don't have your faith in this government, like I didn't have faith in Redford, or even Stelmach.


And decaf completely sucks, its the NDP of coffee, flat, terrible tasting and pretty much worthless.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by Makarov

One (rather meek, I think) dissenting voice (with a pandful of posts), in what would otherwise be the right wing echo chamber of this thread, and you characterize it as a plague of shrill apologists. Good grief.

I compared Oiler fans to NDP apologists.

The apologists were crowing quite loudly when the NDP were first elected (i.e. the off season, after a 1st overall draftpick).

You've proven my point though, there is one rather meek dissenting voice in the thread at the moment after the NDP's poor start (i.e. eliminated from the playoffs by the end of October).

[DiracSpike]

Only 3 more years until the No-Gooders are booted from the legislature and try to take as much copper wiring from the walls as they can.

[Robbob]

"A spokeswoman for Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said the increase is due to a boost in education funding as well as increases in the market value of homes and new construction in Calgary."

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...f-property-tax

I thought market values of homes were dropping or expected to drop 10-15%.

[OMG!WTF!]

As Notley very well knows, the real money is in the copper "pipeline". I wouldn't be flushing any toilets in the legislature when they're gone.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

I have a question for those that voted for the NDP. Do you regret your vote?

I am being serious here. I want to really get a gauge of what people think.

No. The PC's had to go. I'm not partisan, I've voted for basically every party at some point. Now, do I think the NDP could do a lot of things differently? Absolutely. But if you think if the PC's were in or the WRP we would probably have still have a deficit half the size, and no infrastructure projects and massive cuts to services.

My hope is that the NDP can kind of hold the line on public services wages, though realistically that could be an issue.

As for the oil industry, I don't think they have screwed that up much more than any other government would, and I do have some hope that they can get a pipeline.

My biggest issue is with taxes, specifically the carbon tax. I think it should have never been rolled into general budget and instead operated as a separate entity, funding green projects and incentives. Their method of adding little taxes here and there is disconcerting as well. I agree with the move away form flat taxes, but I still think we need a PST.

Will I vote for NDP next time? Probably not. But they were the best choice in a terrible set of choices.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Robbob

"A spokeswoman for Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said the increase is due to a boost in education funding as well as increases in the market value of homes and new construction in Calgary."

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...f-property-tax

I thought market values of homes were dropping or expected to drop 10-15%.

I think that's the rub though, this was all calculated out pre massive drops in home value.

I'm not a tax guy, but they used the conservatives math from a better time.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

Only 3 more years until the No-Gooders are booted from the legislature and try to take as much copper wiring from the walls as they can.

And by that you mean bend over tax payers in the election year and give all their union cronies 7% wage increases per year locked in for the next decade or two.

[AltaGuy]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

I compared Oiler fans to NDP apologists.

The apologists were crowing quite loudly when the NDP were first elected (i.e. the off season, after a 1st overall draftpick).

You've proven my point though, there is one rather meek dissenting voice in the thread at the moment after the NDP's poor start (i.e. eliminated from the playoffs by the end of October).

This thread is exactly what I thought it'd be after the NDP won. I voted for them, would do it again.

But I knew that as the real effects of oil prices tanking became apparent, the rookie government would make a lot of mistakes, and Alberta was in for a world of hurt with or without the NDP.

I also knew that it'd be convenient to blame them for a lot of ills - real and imagined - and in some ways it's great for the conservative side of things (especially if you're one of those who sees politics like a hockey team) as the NDP get the adjustment period and likely are one-and-done.

But the NDP are not my "team" and while I'm still pleased they were elected, I don't have much interest in defending the minutiae of their missteps and policies.

[Red]

Originally Posted by AltaGuy

This thread is exactly what I thought it'd be after the NDP won. I voted for them, would do it again.

But I knew that as the real effects of oil prices tanking became apparent, the rookie government would make a lot of mistakes, and Alberta was in for a world of hurt with or without the NDP.

I also knew that it'd be convenient to blame them for a lot of ills - real and imagined - and in some ways it's great for the conservative side of things (especially if you're one of those who sees politics like a hockey team) as the NDP get the adjustment period and likely are one-and-done.

But the NDP are not my "team" and while I'm still pleased they were elected, I don't have much interest in defending the minutiae of their missteps and policies.

Bolded the often ignored part. We were hurting before and Prentice taxed incomes, gas and the sin products right before the election too. But no one is talking about that.

I think that winning this election is the worst thing to happen to the NDP. The economy was on a huge slide and it will not recover before their term is up. The next party voted in will reap benefits of a natural cycle. Sort of like Obama did, it could only get better from when Bush left it. Fairly or not, Obama benefited from that.

Everyone will remember the NDP years as worst in history or close to that. Again, fairly or not.

Had Prentice won, we would see a big change in the next election. The PCs would be blamed for blowing the boom money and ruining us during a recession.

And no, I did not vote NDP.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I think that's the rub though, this was all calculated out pre massive drops in home value.

I'm not a tax guy, but they used the conservatives math from a better time.

I guess they would be using the city values that were done in Spring 2015. Just seems crazy to come out and say that when you know all industry experts and evaluations going on right now will prove otherwise. Seems a little out of touch.