Alberta's Budget 2015

[Thorin]

Well, the new NDP government has finally put out their budget for 2015-16.  Lots of people complaining about how much of a deficit we're running, and a lot of clamouring about how this is end times and all that.  What I see is a budget with a large amount of spending to try and keep the economy afloat (aka Keynesian Economics), and I'm glad that we're not cutting infrastructure budgets again.  Once I got into the nitty-gritty, I wasn't too upset - the NDP are clearly aiming to help poor people, ensure our healthcare and education systems don't deteriorate further during our recession, and have raised taxes on those that are seen as able to afford it.

Best way to pay yourself is still to start a business and have your current employer hire you as a contractor, then claim the small business tax rate and all of the write-offs you can get.

[Tom]

Probably one of the best parts in my book is the spending freeze on MLAs

[Darren Dirt]

Best way to pay yourself is still to start a business and have your current employer hire you as a contractor, then claim the small business tax rate and all of the write-offs you can get.

Sounds like a plan!

[Mr. Analog]

No new Cancer clinic in Calgary (at least not until 2026?)

[Tom]

And they didn't put money aside for the two hospital projects in Edmonton either. Ok, not entirely true, they put some aside for /planning/. But they are billion dollar renovations...

[Lazybones]

Looking from the outside it seems fairly reasonable considering oil has taken such a dive and the past governments promoted dependence on it.

[Melbosa]

Reports I heard today was indicating favoritism towards Calgary infrastructure and services funding over Edmonton.  But that just might be because Calgary's areas need more improvement that Edmonton.

[Thorin]

I don't think there's specific favouritism.  There are parts of the budget where Calgary gets more money.  A good example is the transportation budget: there's more money going to Calgary for completion of their ring road (Stoney Trail) than there is to Edmonton for completion of their ring road (Henday), but that's because there's more work still needing completion in Calgary.  If you look back over the years for each project, the funding has been fairly equal.

The big thing for me is that the proposed Tory tax on the middle incomes (health levy tax) was moved by the NDP to a tax on the higher incomes.  Also, profitable businesses had their tax burden increased.  I really am happy at the increase of support for lower- and lower-middle-income families.  Yes, I get nothing out of it, and if I made a decent chunk more than I am now, I'd even lose a bit of that chunk, but I really do think we need to make sure we're supporting those for who life is harder.

The headlines are pretty stupid, though.  There was one that said, "New Budget Sees Alberta Take On $18.9B In Debt".  Clearly, that's meant to make you think this year's budget spends $18.9B more than it takes in.  But really, the headline was referring to Albert going from $12.7B in debt to $18.9B in debt, thus the budget spending $6.2B more than it takes in.  Which was roughly what the Tories expected to have happen.  But the publication in question happens to be one that supports the Conservatives rather than just reporting in a neutral voice, so it made a headline that would make the NDP government look worse at first glance.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2015/03/26/alberta-raising-incomes-taxes-for-those-who-make-more-than-100000 and http://www.edmontonsun.com/2015/03/26/taxing-prentice-pc-budget-far-from-a-pretty-picture

Prentice and the PCs:
- $5B deficit, income tax changed - higher incomes pay up to 12% instead of 10%
- taking $4B from contingency fund
- health levy tax - middle incomes and up
- $0.04/liter tax on fuel
- $5/carton tax on cigarettes
- 1% tax on insurance
- tax increase on alcohol
- large increase on traffic fines
- health spending gets a slight cut: 0.8%
- education spending gets a bump: 2%, even though school boards get a 3% cut
- human services gets a bump: 1.9%
Notley and the NDPs:
- $6.2B deficit  ($1.2B higher)
- taking $3.3B from contingency fund  ($0.7B lower)
- income tax changed - higher incomes pay up to 15%
- $5/carton tax on cigarettes
- corporate tax changed - non-small businesses pay 12% instead of 10%
- kept: $0.04/liter tax on fuel
- kept: $5/carton tax on cigarettes (so it's now $10/carton extra)
- kept: 1% tax on insurance
- kept: tax on alcohol
- kept: large increase on traffic fines
- health spending gets a bump: 4%
- education spending stays the same, even though the 3% cut to school boards is reversed
- human services: haven't seen anything about this

When looking at the plans side by side, the NDPs budget is not much more than the PCs budget was, just the money is in different pots (health care and poor people, instead of rich people and companies).  Also, the NDP are predicting $2B/year less revenue from oil than the PCs were predicting.  So if oil rebounds as fast as the PCs expected it to, then the NDPs taxes and expenses will actually leave us less in debt than the PCs plan was going to.

And yet, lots of people screaming about how the NDP are going to bankrupt the province of Alberta.