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Bell: Smith government opens the door to talk taxes — sales tax anyone?

Did Premier Danielle Smith just put the Alberta Advantage on the table?

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This is a day where you throw out the old copy and go back to Square 1.

Bell: Smith government opens the door to talk taxes — sales tax anyone? Back to video

It is budget day and a door is opened wide.

Looks like it just might be time the government of Premier Danielle Smith is prepared to talk about taxes in Alberta.

We have always been told most Albertans don’t want provincial income tax hikes or a provincial sales tax.

We’ve been told most Albertans don’t want to cut billions in spending.

We do know most Albertans do want what is impossible unless oil prices are high.

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Low taxes. High spending. Funded in a big way by the oilpatch.

So, on this day when oil prices are not high, the Smith government doesn’t hike the income tax or bring in a sales tax or really put the screws to spending when there is another way to go.

The Alberta government goes into the hole. Deep in the hole.

This year, they will go into the hole by more than $9 billion, a number the Smith government admits is a tough pill to swallow.

Going that deep in the hole is actually against the government’s own law.

And they aren’t expected to get out of the hole in the next three years, also against the government’s own law.

The three options. Raise taxes. Cut spending. Dig a deep hole.

Nate Horner, Smith’s budget boss, speaks out this budget day.

Horner assures us there are no immediate plans to raise taxes or create new ones, but he will “not sacrifice our public services to make our deficit disappear.”

The budget boss does say with this province in a deficit ditch he expects “larger conversations” on where Alberta goes from here.

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“There will be lots of questions no doubt, and there should be, at kitchen tables everywhere about if this is the right tax structure for the province.”

The budget boss says this is a question where the Smith government has to hear from Albertans.

For now, Horner pledges to protect the Alberta tax advantage.

That is his job unless he hears differently.

He also considers all the Alberta government’s spending to be “significant spending,” including pay hikes for those on the Alberta taxpayer payroll.

Horner asks the fiscal hawks where they would cut billions out of the budget.

He adds if you go that route Albertans have to be asked what they are prepared to have the government stop doing.

The premier told us where she was going earlier this week.

She talked about schools.

She said they will spend … they will spend … they will spend … more … more … more.

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Ditto when Smith talked about doctors.

She talks about all the people who have descended upon Alberta and all the services they need.

Some voices will no doubt float the trial balloon you could raise more money with a sales tax.

Now there’s a kitchen table topic.

Years ago, previous Progressive Conservative governments whispered about a possible sales tax but quickly retreated after a backlash, in one case promising not to even think about such a move until the oilsands run dry.

At the time a provincial sales tax in Alberta, a PST, was the Political Suicide Tax.

For many it still is.

Then there was the time the Alberta government dared to raise the tax on booze and they put the tax up $1.50 for a dozen beer.

There was open rebellion and the government of the day, under former premier Ed Stelmach, caved and canned the tax hike.

These days you don’t seem to be able to go there.

You get in trouble when you cut spending. Slashing and burning, wielding the axe. You know the headlines.

In fact, there is one guarantee.

The spending will not be enough. Nowhere near enough. Never near enough. Spend more, you heartless conservatives!

There will be areas where folks will debate how money is spent.

So here we are, talking taxes, talking about taking on the Alberta Advantage.

“We will see if Albertans are more tax averse or debt averse in the days and weeks ahead,” says Horner.

There will be those of us old enough to look back at those bygone days when the Alberta Advantage got its name and Ralph Klein was running the show.

We could talk about the great crusade to balance the books without raising taxes, slaying the deficit dragon at all costs.

We could recall the great protests against Ralph’s deep cuts and how he vowed not to blink and how most Albertans stuck with him.

We could remember when debt was a four-letter word and getting rid of it was a big thing.

That was then, this is now.

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