For the tax-and-spend NDP, enough is never enough. That is the underlying message in Finance Minister Joe Ceci’s third provincial budget introduced in the legislature last week.
Taxes? Too low. Spending? Too low. Debt? Too low.
Blinded by ideology, the Alberta NDP want more, more and more.
Despite an $8.8-billion deficit, and debt totalling $54 billion, the NDP continues to increase spending. Albertans are already on the hook for nearly $2 billion in annual interest payments, but that isn’t enough for the NDP. They plan to increase the debt to $96 billion, and waste $3.7 billion on interest payments every year, even as taxes are going up.
The government plans to increase the NDP’s job-killing carbon tax at least two more times, possibly more. It’s a recipe for disaster.
For the record, this kind of fiscal incompetence is exactly why the late Premier Ralph Klein brought in the Alberta Taxpayer Protection Act. Signed into law in May 1995, the act prevents government from imposing a sales tax without a referendum. Since the NDP repealed Alberta’s balanced budget law, this is the last piece of legislation preserving what remains of the Alberta Advantage.
However, it seems even this roadblock isn’t enough to keep the NDP out of Albertans' pockets.
Beginning in 2021, the NDP plans to start pumping carbon tax revenue directly into the provincial general revenue fund, starting with $1 billion per year. In essence, the carbon tax becomes a backdoor PST, one that doesn’t require a referendum under the Alberta Taxpayer Protection Act.
The NDP think they are tricking Albertans. The NDP think they are smarter than Albertans. The NDP are wrong.
The fact is a majority of Albertans oppose both a PST and the carbon tax. The NDP didn’t campaign on their carbon tax in 2015, because they knew it was a loser. Guess what? It’s still a loser.
However, that won’t stop the NDP. They think taxes are too low, spending is too low, and the debt is too low.
For Premier Notley and the NDP, enough is never enough.
- Jason Nixon is the UCP MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre
