Albertans angry over budget increases

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

The ‘Alberta Advantage’ is dead after the Prentice government tabled the budget on March 26. The flat tax rate of 10 per cent, which was the pride of former Premier Ralph Klein, will be eliminated and will see people earning more than $50,000 being taxed more.
This wasn’t the only increase to hit Albertans with the announcement. The budget will see increases to 59 different areas in the form of taxes and fees. Things like gas, beer, wine, dying, being born, getting married, insurance and mortgages will now cost Albertans more.
Health care premiums, which were eliminated in 2008, will also be making a comeback as of July 1, and will affect anyone making over $50,000 per year, costing up to a maximum of $1,000 per person depending on your income.
“A need for increased revenues along with decreased spending requires a tough budget which none of us likes, but we did expect,” said Molly Douglass, the PC candidate for Strathmore-Brooks.
“Albertans know services cost money (and) expect government to use taxpayers’ money wisely and efficiently, so with this 2015 budget and going forward that must be the rule in order to keep our province’s position of strength.”
Alberta is about to go into a record deficit of $5 billion over the next year. Wildrose candidate for Strathmore-Brooks Derek Fildebrandt said that number is closer to $7.7 billion, which is the consolidated total deficit for capital and operations.
Over the past few months the Prentice government has brought four different budget proposals to Albertans. The first was to see some tax hikes and continuing spending. Next was a $2.5 billion cut in spending and $2.5 billion in tax hikes. During the televised address by Premier Jim Prentice on March 24, he announced that the government would hold the line on spending but would contain tax hikes.
The actual budget announced will see a $3.5 billion increase in spending, and $2.7 billion in increased taxes.
“This is just the pre-election budget, which is likely to be the friendliest version that the electorate gets to see. I doubt that it will be the budget actually passed by the PCs once the votes are counted,” said Fildebrandt.
“This is an assault on the middle class, I don’t believe in raising any taxes right now because the province does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. Our government still couldn’t balance the budget when oil was $110 a barrel, and despite the decline in oil prices we still have higher revenues than almost any other province in the country, the problem is we’re spending too much.”
This is the first time in years that Alberta’s taxes have been raised, and the introduction of a Provincial Sales Tax (PST) has not been entirely ruled out.