Finance minister launches web survey to help solve provincial deficit
Posted Feb 5, 2015 11:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Alberta’s finance minister says it’s impossible to reach all Albertans in just a few short weeks, so he’s heading online.
Robin Campbell is looking for input about how to solve a $7-billion deficit, and right now, it’s looking like there won’t be much that’s off the table.
Campbell says this isn’t a one year crisis; they’re looking to come up with a 10 year fiscal plan.
He told reporters they will continue to make infrastructure a priority, spending $7.3 Billion dollars this year.
“We have an infrastructure plan for the next 5 years that’s going to be somewhere around 28-29 Billion dollars, one of the things we’re not going to do is reduce our infrastructure,” he said. “We have two challenges within infrastructure, one is maintaining the assets we have today. We’ve all heard the Premier say, ‘if you have a barn and the shingles are blowing off, you fix the shingles.’ We also know that we have to continue building for the future.”
Campbell told reporters, even with the low price of oil, people are still going to come to the province.
The province will also commit to MSI funding for cities, but after 2015, he’s not making any further commitments.
All kinds of ideas to generate revenue will be added to the online survey, including the idea of a sales tax.
The province has already ruled out raising royalties and corporate tax, Campbell believes this won’t be sending a message to taxpayers’, that the shortfall will come out of their own wallets.
“We look at the investment we need in this province and I think people need to understand that the biggest source of revenue in this province is income tax and that only happens if people are working.”
At this stage, he hasn’t heard from anyone who is against an outright tax increase.
“No body is happy about a tax increase, myself included, but there is a different feeling around the province this time, people are at a point that they just want to get off this roller coaster.”
“They want sustainable funding from the government, they want sustainable programming and I’ll suggest in the discussions that I’ve had, and the communities I visit, people are saying, you know, we have to do something,” he said. “The Premier’s been very clear and I want to be clear, we’re going to look after our core services.”
He’s heard suggestions anywhere from raising the fuel tax, to the income tax, even user fees.
When asked if the government was looking for a five per cent cut across the board in the public sector, Campbell replied they just want the best bang for their buck.
Alberta’s 2015 budget is expected sometime in March.
