Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

[PDO]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/st...a-surplus.html

So...

#1) Health Care.
#2) Edumacation.
#3) Finish the Henday.
#4) Infrastructure in general.
#5) Diversification... nuclear? Technology? Both?
#6) Arena money for both cities?
#7) Piggy bank.

Well, either that or $3000 for every man, woman and child

[Muley69]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

Part of our problem is not money...it's that there is no one available to do the work (ala the Henday or other transportation projects).


I say save a big chunk of that money.

[PDO]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

Part of our problem is not money...it's that there is no one available to do the work (ala the Henday or other transportation projects).


I say save a big chunk of that money.

Very good point. Certainly nothing wrong with saving some of the money and having it ear-marked for projects like the Henday and the overpass... good way to give the economy a kick in the rear when it starts to cool down a bit.

Infrastructure is just killing the province right now though. I'd go as far to say it's worth the extra it'll cost, just because we so badly need it... so many roads here are just torn to ****.

I'd also say cities, especially the major ones (Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Fort Mac, Grande Prairie...) really need some of this money. They've been ravaged by the boom and most of the money goes to the province...

[Ol' Jase]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

It's time to seriously examine the corporate income tax structure for small business.

[Muley69]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

If I had my way, I'd LOVE to see a new personal savings plan introduced, with some percentage matching by the GOA (say, 50% or 100%) up to some maximum level.

Then, to entice / encourage saving til retirement or to even help people learn the time-value of money, I'd like to see "bonus payments" by the GOA if you leave the money in there for 10, 20, 30 years. Not so make that it would break provincial coffers, mind you, but enough to help people fund their retirement.



Other things that are worthy, as Ol jase said, is small business tax. Perhaps to encourage and support small business, maybe charge no tax for 5 - 10 years in the life of the company to help it succeed. OR lower the tax rate all across the board.




But most of this means we need to diversify our provincial income. And there would be no better way to do this than to save the surpluses now, and "live off the interest".

[Beerfish]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

They ignored infrastructure all through the Bozo the Klein era so they have a large deficient to make up there. There should be tax cuts though or one time grants. For a province that is supposidely swimming in cash the citizens are not overwhelmingly better off than other provinces.

[Ol' Jase]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

Other things that are worthy, as Ol jase said, is small business tax. Perhaps to encourage and support small business, maybe charge no tax for 5 - 10 years in the life of the company to help it succeed. OR lower the tax rate all across the board.

I like the idea of a 5 year exemption a lot.

After that, a corporate tax structure should be rewarded for sustaining strong growth, profitability, and fiscal integrity. The better you legitimately run your business, the less tax you pay.

[Spectacle]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

After tonight, I want to see money go to research into B17.

[Muley69]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

They ignored infrastructure all through the Bozo the Klein era so they have a large deficient to make up there. There should be tax cuts though or one time grants. For a province that is supposidely swimming in cash the citizens are not overwhelmingly better off than other provinces.

While I don't disagree, it would be wrong to assume that OTHER provinces, that DIDN'T reduce their debt, don't have an infrastructure deficit.

They all do.

The difference is the ability to manage expectations. In the provinces with mega-debt, it's easier to say there isn't enough money to build new roads/schools/hospitals/sewers/etc. than it is in Alberta.

[Deathsdoorstep]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

The Alberta Government needs to take some things into consideration:

1) An $8B surplus is not likely in perpetuity. Therefore...
2) Permanent tax cuts should be modest. And...
3) Targeted investments in infrastructure such as roads, schools, post secondary institutions and our healthcare system are a must.

[upthegut]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

Save it all.

[nightfall]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

Gamble it all.

"It's up to you, Mr. Bond"
"$8.5 billion. All in."

[Beerfish]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

The Alberta Government needs to take some things into consideration:

1) An $8B surplus is not likely in perpetuity. Therefore...
2) Permanent tax cuts should be modest. And...
3) Targeted investments in infrastructure such as roads, schools, post secondary institutions and our healthcare system are a must.

As for #2, i totally agree and understand why governments are hesitant to cut taxes. All they have to do is be creative and give some kind of deduction tied to revenues or something like that. That way if things are going as they are now, huge surpluses then the people of the province get a tax break, if not then no tax break.

[Beerfish]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

While I don't disagree, it would be wrong to assume that OTHER provinces, that DIDN'T reduce their debt, don't have an infrastructure deficit.

They all do.

The difference is the ability to manage expectations. In the provinces with mega-debt, it's easier to say there isn't enough money to build new roads/schools/hospitals/sewers/etc. than it is in Alberta.

Alberta has been doing well for a lot of years, the government totally ignored infrastructure among other things pinching pennies. Yeah they looked good eliminating the deficient so quickly but they did not do their job as a government at that time.

The big problem now is that although we have alot of money in the province now, the inflation rate on construction has been so brutal the last 5 years that even though the government is putting a fair bit more money into infrastructure we are still falling behind, due to inflation in the area of construction.

[Rayminator]

Re: Alberta Surplus to hit $8,500,000,000

only 3 priorities in my mind:

1) infrastructure - for obvious reasons
2) municipalities - the province really handcuffs the municipalities of this province with very little taxation powers. We need more money as a temporary solution, then make Stelmach get off his can and give the municipalities more taxation powers so we don't have to keep raising property taxes by 8%/year
3) replenishing the HTF - Norway lives off the interest of their equivalent of the HTF; we need to invest in this while we can so we can do the same thing.