Dear Editor,
The UCP “Blue Ribbon” panel came out Tuesday Sept. 3 stated that the province of Alberta has a spending problem, paying more for education and health care than other provinces, and we need to rein in spending to help solve the problem. Then they start talking about programs and projects that aren’t of high priority that will be cut. My question is: high priority to whom?
Alberta doesn’t have a spending problem but an income problem. Alberta cannot be compared to the other provinces for expenditures because our cost of living is higher than the other provinces. Our booming economy in the past (2004-2014) pushed up not just housing costs but the cost of everything compared to most other provinces. The fact is that our taxes are lower than the other provinces, and there is no provincial sales tax so now you have a revenue shortage.
I realize that no one likes paying taxes, but taxes are used mostly for providing public services such as health care, education, policing, the legal system, social services, food and work safety, resource management and more. Our taxes also are used for the upkeep and building of infrastructure such as school buildings, hospitals, prisons, roads and bridges, senior and extended care facilities, this list also goes on.
We have been hearing about austerity measures, the need to rein in government spending and at the same time reducing taxes for Corporations “to stimulate” the economy. Many parts of the world have been doing this for the past few decades and all it has done is cut services to the middle and lower income earners while putting more money in the hands of the rich. The new provincial budget is coming in October, and with reduced revenues due to corporate tax cuts, expect to start paying more.
Vicky Couteret
Fort Assiniboine