April 23 2012: Alberta Provincial Election

[flamesaresmokin]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Another Teacher Vote bribe from the PCs that comes out of nowhere:

"Implement a Teacher's Tax Credit

• A new PC Government will also introduce a new Teacher Tax Credit of up to $500 a year. Every teacher goes above and beyond for student in their classroms, and this tax credit will reconize that exceptional contributions of Alberta teachers, who exceed the requirements of the job, both in terms of contributing time and financial resources- like stepping in to buy lunch for a student who has forgotten theirs at hom, or building a learning environment in the classroom that is more personal, and that helps children learn and experience a happy environment"

http://www.votepc.ca/public/data/documents/ACFA9AB.pdf

WTF is this, are they going to start giving everyone tax credits who just do their jobs?

How often do you spend your own money to outfit your office at work? Guessing not often and surely not out of necessity. Most teachers have to go out and buy their own bookshelves and other furniture if they actually care enough to do so.

Most classrooms are completely bare bones aside from the essentials, nothing wrong with paying people back for taking the time to make the classrooms of children a little better. Its hilarious how little people value funding education when its the single most important service we can provide.

I'm not a huge fan of the PC's but when your options are voting for a party that thinks post secondary education should be free of charge in a few years/want's to cut everyone meaningless rebate cheques and the other that won't actually commit to what its plans are in any way i'd say you don't have much choice.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I'm really hoping Nenshi runs as premier in 2016. Obviously he could help this city even more from Edmonton than he could here. I just can't see him getting enough rural/Edmonton seats with his perceived Calgary bias.

Umm... Ralph Klein?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by flamesaresmokin

How often do you spend your own money to outfit your office at work? Guessing not often and surely not out of necessity. Most teachers have to go out and buy their own bookshelves and other furniture if they actually care enough to do so.

Most classrooms are completely bare bones aside from the essentials, nothing wrong with paying people back for taking the time to make the classrooms of children a little better. Its hilarious how little people value funding education when its the single most important service we can provide.

I guess I can afford to be a little cynical on this one, based on Allison's past actions using the Teachers to basically buy the leadership position.

[EddyBeers]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I guess I can afford to be a little cynical on this one, based on Allison's past actions using the Teachers to basically buy the leadership position.

It is almost like being cynical about the Wild Rose and PC Party's in general based on the oil companies buying their way into policy making positions in the respective parties.

[FLAMESRULE]

Originally Posted by flamesaresmokin

How often do you spend your own money to outfit your office at work? Guessing not often and surely not out of necessity. Most teachers have to go out and buy their own bookshelves and other furniture if they actually care enough to do so.

Most classrooms are completely bare bones aside from the essentials, nothing wrong with paying people back for taking the time to make the classrooms of children a little better. Its hilarious how little people value funding education when its the single most important service we can provide.

I'm not a huge fan of the PC's but when your options are voting for a party that thinks post secondary education should be free of charge in a few years/want's to cut everyone meaningless rebate cheques and the other that won't actually commit to what its plans are in any way i'd say you don't have much choice.

Loads of people buy / bring their own stuff into their office (plants / art / utensils / tools + equipment / etc.). No one obvioulsy has to bring in a desk or chairs, but neither do teachers.

Lots of people go above and beyond for their job. Its a pure vote buy by the PC's.

[Senator Clay Davis]

But the difference between Klein and a Nenshi run would be the times. Edmontonians seem to have quite the inferiority complex about Calgarians (read the comments in the Edmonton papers versus Calgary ones) that they probably didn't have when Klein ran. They are also more worried that Calgary will get more breaks at Edmonton's expense (not necessarily untrue).

[flamesaresmokin]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I guess I can afford to be a little cynical on this one, based on Allison's past actions using the Teachers to basically buy the leadership position.

All party leadership votes are about is vote buying in every instance. Its nothing new. Call me insane but I really have no desire to see our province completely privatized by the extremist wildrose party and have no desire to see our tax dollars thrown out the window at ridiculous social programs (ralph bucks, free tuition etc) by the other side. Until there's a better alternative there is no alternative to the PC except not voting imho.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

But the difference between Klein and a Nenshi run would be the times. Edmontonians seem to have quite the inferiority complex about Calgarians (read the comments in the Edmonton papers versus Calgary ones) that they probably didn't have when Klein ran. They are also more worried that Calgary will get more breaks at Edmonton's expense (not necessarily untrue).

Notwithstanding party politics, I think Nenshi would be very popular in Edmonton.

[Jacks]

I'll be glad when this is over so I can get some work done. Anybody else behind at work because you're spending a couple hours a day reading news, this site, etc?

[Lurch]

Originally Posted by flamesaresmokin

How often do you spend your own money to outfit your office at work? Guessing not often and surely not out of necessity. Most teachers have to go out and buy their own bookshelves and other furniture if they actually care enough to do so.

Most classrooms are completely bare bones aside from the essentials, nothing wrong with paying people back for taking the time to make the classrooms of children a little better. Its hilarious how little people value funding education when its the single most important service we can provide.

I'm not a huge fan of the PC's but when your options are voting for a party that thinks post secondary education should be free of charge in a few years/want's to cut everyone meaningless rebate cheques and the other that won't actually commit to what its plans are in any way i'd say you don't have much choice.

I really don't understand how this policy is defensible. One, the same could be said for a huge number of professions. Two, if you actually think teachers are hard done by, pay them more - accomplishes exactly the same thing without complicating the tax code.

[flamesaresmokin]

Originally Posted by FLAMESRULE

Loads of people buy / bring their own stuff into their office (plants / art / utensils / tools + equipment / etc.). No one obvioulsy has to bring in a desk or chairs, but neither do teachers.

Lots of people go above and beyond for their job. Its a pure vote buy by the PC's.

Plants? Art? Utensils? What is this a country club? I hardly call that going above and beyond for anything.

If you're using your own tools for a job you're already getting tax breaks because its for your own business or you're a contractor etc. These people get tax breaks already and to a similar degree that is being proposed for teachers.

I'm guessing you don't see the tuition reduction credit (which is insane) or the ralph bucks as a vote buy at all then? These are definitely aimed at a far larger portion of the population then teachers. They are also a lot more fiscally irresponsible then offering a few hundred bucks to a small percentage of people that will actually claim it.

[crazy_eoj]

Originally Posted by flamesaresmokin

All party leadership votes are about is vote buying in every instance. Its nothing new. Call me insane but I really have no desire to see our province completely privatized by the extremist wildrose party and have no desire to see our tax dollars thrown out the window at ridiculous social programs (ralph bucks, free tuition etc) by the other side. Until there's a better alternative there is no alternative to the PC except not voting imho.

You should probably read the wildrose platform before you spout nonsense like 'completely privatized by the extremists'... it comes across as... well... insane?

Secondly, I'm not sure there's ever been quite the same precedent in Alberta where a third place finisher in a leadership campaign advertised directly to a large public union and then suddenly lurched to the win...

[flamesaresmokin]

Originally Posted by Lurch

I really don't understand how this policy is defensible. One, the same could be said for a huge number of professions. Two, if you actually think teachers are hard done by, pay them more - accomplishes exactly the same thing without complicating the tax code.

Complicating the tax code? really? You make it seem like we're talking about something that has never been done before. Every party is proposing the same thing in different capacities.

The tax code can't get much more convoluted then it already is.

Offering a tax break is actually one of the smartest ways to reward people. You don't just arbitrarily throw pay raises at people. This rewards people that are actually making an impact where its needed as opposed to rewarding people that simply don't give a crap.

[FLAMESRULE]

Originally Posted by flamesaresmokin

Plants? Art? Utensils? What is this a country club? I hardly call that going above and beyond for anything.

If you're using your own tools for a job you're already getting tax breaks because its for your own business or you're a contractor etc. These people get tax breaks already and to a similar degree that is being proposed for teachers.

I'm guessing you don't see the tuition reduction credit (which is insane) or the ralph bucks as a vote buy at all then? These are definitely aimed at a far larger portion of the population then teachers. They are also a lot more fiscally irresponsible then offering a few hundred bucks to a small percentage of people that will actually claim it.

Hahaha, please. What do you think teachers are bringing in?? A 70" LCD to show a Bluray of cell mitosis?? They're bringing the same crap in, so dont preach all high + mighty.

Tuition reduction credit is smart if applied properly. You stay in AB and pay tax for X years you should get a credit back becuase you're contributing so much more to the economy.

Agree 100% on Ralph bucks / Dani dollars...stupid.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by flamesaresmokin

The tax code can't get much more convoluted then it already is.

Oh yes it can.

[First Lady]

https://twitter.com/#!/AlbertaTweets...08000660733952

Pretty cool Connor.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by flamesaresmokin

Complicating the tax code? really? You make it seem like we're talking about something that has never been done before. Every party is proposing the same thing in different capacities.

The tax code can't get much more convoluted then it already is.

Offering a tax break is actually one of the smartest ways to reward people. You don't just arbitrarily throw pay raises at people. This rewards people that are actually making an impact where its needed as opposed to rewarding people that simply don't give a crap.

Um if you're the PC party you do and you have for the past 5 years. That's part of why they have a problem this time around.

Where's the Fireman tax credit? Where's the ERCB worker tax Credit? Where's the nurse tax credit? At the end of the day do these things really need to be in the Tax code as opposed to negotiations with their respective unions? This is more of a "Hey ATA look at this, get all your teachers to vote for us!"

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by Lurch

I really don't understand how this policy is defensible. One, the same could be said for a huge number of professions. Two, if you actually think teachers are hard done by, pay them more - accomplishes exactly the same thing without complicating the tax code.

I'm not a teacher and I'm not sure how the correlation between teachers, the school board and government works. But since it's a tax credit it's not like each teacher is getting 500 dollars each year. Essentially how I read this proposal is that it's the same procedure as any business paying back for any out of pocket expenses, just instead of getting reimbursed for personal incidentals and the company using it as a tax credit or an expense, teachers submit their purchases for tax credits from the Government.

That being said, I'm not an expert in the relationship between teachers, the school board and the government. But from a business standpoint it's very similar to what most businesses do for incidentals.

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by First Lady

https://twitter.com/#!/AlbertaTweets...08000660733952

Pretty cool Connor.

Why thank you very much it's going to be a fun day and evening.

[flamesaresmokin]

Originally Posted by FLAMESRULE

Hahaha, please. What do you think teachers are bringing in?? A 70" LCD to show a Bluray of cell mitosis?? They're bringing the same crap in, so dont preach all high + mighty.

Tuition reduction credit is smart if applied properly. You stay in AB and pay tax for X years you should get a credit back becuase you're contributing so much more to the economy.

Agree 100% on Ralph bucks / Dani dollars...stupid.

No it really isn't smart. There are already plenty of tuition breaks (and good ones) available via non refundable tax credits. You clearly don't know much about our tax policies for someone so opinionated on it.

I worked my way through post secondary on my own with no trouble whatsoever and fail to see why everyone cannot do the same if they apply themselves and work hard. Loans are easily payable if you're smart about using them as well. The only people i know who have trouble with them are the ones that spent the loan money irresponsibly.

I don't recall anyone i've worked with in an office bringing in utensils, art, plants on their own dime and if they did its something that was theirs to begin with. Let's single out teachers because they are getting a rare tax break as opposed to the ever popular self employed tax exemptions that get abused to no end.