With gasoline prices hovering around 90 cents a litre, we are starting to feel the financial pangs that come from the decrease in oil and gas revenue. Reportedly, we are missing out on roughly $75 million per day due to the downturn. Paying less at the pump, as great as it might seem, equates to fewer funds coming into the provincial coffers. Cutbacks, fiscal restraints and wage freezes are prevalent topics of conversation around the legislature these days. With the provincial budget set to come down March 7, many of us wonder how this will impact us. Where will the cuts come? Who takes the hit? How many new notches do we need to score on that new AAA leather belt we got for Christmas?
We have all heard those carefully guarded words: “The Alberta Tax Advantage.” This mantra is often cited at family gatherings, particularly when out- of-province folks come to visit, and we tell them how as Albertans, we enjoy low personal and corporate income tax, low fuel tax, no health premiums or capital tax and of course, the big one, no provincial sales tax. It is for these fiscal facts that we are still the envy of those Maritime cousins who pay blended/harmonized taxes, in some cases to the tune of 14 per cent.
Hip hip hurray for the Alberta advantage and our great Heritage Savings Trust fund! Wait…stop the presses! That’s right; I forgot…we can no longer take it for granted that our heritage trust savings fund is going to last forever. Instead of setting more aside for a rainy day, we are dipping into the account. It is not growing. If we are serious about the heritage aspect of this fund, we need to take proactive measures, other than oil revenue, to keep it as robust a fund as possible for future needs.
What should we do? We can just wait until gas prices go higher again. They will. We can try to get more foreign investment in our natural resources. Or, we can toss around the idea of those two tainted words that so horrify politicians and scandalize Albertan consumers: “sales tax.” I know, I could be deported to one of those other provinces for even uttering this idea in a public forum. Just hear me out.
Consider the Land of Living Skies: Saskatchewan. There, consumers pay a five per cent provincial sales tax. If Alberta had a similar tax, we would realize about $10 billion in annual revenue. Think about that … $10B. I know, you already feel taxed to death and how dare someone suggest you pay a little more for – I don’t know – roads, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, health care, but it is high time that some brave Tory politician put his or her head on the chopping block and echo the message of some opposition party members like Kent Hehr. In an open letter to Premier Alison Redford in the Calgary Herald on Jan. 12 he wrote, “if Alberta had B.C.’s tax structure, the second lowest taxed province, we would generate $11 billion more in revenue annually.”
It used to be said that Alberta had such a huge annual surplus that a monkey could run our finances. Hmm … I will keep looking on Kijiji.
That said, let’s not monkey around anymore with our serious need for sustainable revenue. Instead of having to fundraise and charge additional fees to enhance school programs, in lieu of having to hold lotteries for hospital equipment and air ambulances, instead of having to wait forever for the LRT to get out to this part of world, let’s all take a serious, honest, and academic look at the positive impact a sales tax would have on Alberta and Albertans.
I think many people would realize that whether three, four or five per cent, the money is well spent. It is well spent on investing in our present and our children’s future. We just won’t tax bananas!
Tim Cusack is an educator, entertainer and member of the naval reserve.
