Across Alberta people from every sector of the economy are re-evaluating their futures as the provincial government’s budget cuts a wide swatch increasing costs for many — yet these Conservative politicians brag they didn’t increase taxes.
“It does not introduce any new taxes or tax increases,” specifically states a government news release.
That’s so much hooey.
They did increase taxes — and for virtually everybody — although not in fair or equitable ways.
At the same time, the document released last Thursday crushes the dreams of many residents who have contributed so much to the growth and prosperity of our province.
And they’ve shifted the blame to municipal governments, to bear the brunt of some of their slashing.
Seniors will be hard hit when they get their property tax bills late this spring.
The Seniors School Property Tax Assistance program is one that shielded seniors from annual increases in the education portion of their municipal property tax bill. This year the program will only be available for certain seniors whose income is below a threshold. So almost immediately those who have saved judiciously over the years and are making too much from their investments, will be hit with a tax increase.
The program is ending altogether in 2014 so every single senior who owns residential property in Alberta and has taken advantage of the program will be hit with a tax increase next year.
There’s hope though for seniors in dire straits. “A new Seniors Property Tax Deferral Program will be implemented for all eligible seniors who own homes, including those most in need, so they can keep money in their pockets by deferring taxes until they sell their homes.” This is their solution to eliminating the assistance program. To loan seniors money on the security of their homes.
According to information provided to Sylvan Lake councillors Monday night, property tax bills could increase for everyone. “A new policy for determining the property tax requisition has been implemented. The amount of revenue to be collected (or the requisition amount) will now be based on 32 per cent of total operating expense of the education system,” wrote Betty Osmond, the town’s chief administrative officer, in her report. “The province stated that this will provide a clear link between the revenue collected and the education service provided …”
“The concern for municipalities is that education costs have traditionally grown at a relatively fast pace. As a result, this policy leads to an even more rapid escalation of the province’s municipal requisition and therefore a greater invasion of the municipal tax base,” her report continued, noting information she supplied has primarily come from a document put together by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association. Local councillors are ever cognizant of how they set property tax rates because they’re closest to the grassroots and feel the wrath of residents and businesses quicker and more forcefully than politicians at other levels.
It’s not just seniors who will be affected. Everyone paying property tax will be touched by our province’s changes — particularly if we call for a better education system.
That’s likely to happen as Education Minister Jeff Johnson said, in a news release, “The fiscal reality is that many school boards will see fewer operating dollars this year compared to last year, and we will all need to work together to make sure kids aren’t impacted in a negative way.”
At the post-secondary level shock waves are emanating from those institutions of higher learning due to a three per cent cut to base funding. Thomas Lukaszuk is quoted that while serious he is confident large savings are to be found in closer co-operation among the 26 colleges and universities.
Education is a cornerstone to a vibrant economy but not, it appears, where this government is concerned.
The Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) will be suspended indefinitely, noted Osmond. The impact to the town’s budget is $8,800 which will have to be found elsewhere if the town proceeds with hiring students for summer work. That’s not much but then how many other local organizations are affected.
It’s those organizations who are also affected in other ways. “Grants to other community entities (non-municipal) will fall by almost 20 per cent,” Osmond noted.
The Community Spirit Program has been eliminated. We know of at least one local group which has benefited from this unique program started during Premier Ed Stelmach’s reign. It provided grants to non-profit and charitable organizations based on how much they collected from individual donors. The idea was to encourage more charitable giving by residents and to support the projects those residents supported.
Another hit for many in the recreation and culture sector is reductions to the Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) which allowed local groups to apply for money generated from provincial lotteries to create or enhance facilities. The latest Sylvan recipient of this was Lakeview Optimists who contributed their $125,000 grant for construction of the town’s skate park.
Getting back to the old adage “there’s nothing certain in life but death and taxes” we see in an Alberta Liberals release that a ‘death tax’ has been introduced.
The only good thing to come out of the budget, in our mind, is that the government will stop robbing the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund to pay for its operations.
“Income from the Heritage Savings Trust Fund will be retained in increasing portions, ultimately retaining 100 per cent of income by 2016-17,” according to a government news release. How often have we called for a stop to the process of taking income from this fund to the extent it hasn’t grown in decades? Too many times.
What this budget does however, in our mind, is widen the gap between the ideological leanings of the Conservatives and the Wildrose on the right and the Liberals and New Democrats on the left. We suspect we’ll see more people shifting support to the left than right as the true impact of the government’s slashing is felt.