Who speaks for taxpayers in the Legislature?

In theory, all 83 Alberta MLAs speak for the taxpayers in their constituencies. But since Premier Klein increased our taxes by $641 million this past March, how many MLAs have called for reversing these tax hikes?

Some ND and Liberal MLAs criticized Premier Klein for breaking his pre-election promise to Albertans that "the only way taxes are going is down."

Sadly, these same opposition MLAs consistently call on the government to throw more money at health care, teachers' salaries, social workers, etc. They object to the tax hike, yet have no viable plan to cut spending or taxes themselves.

Can you name one MLA who spoke up for taxpayers when the First Quarter Fiscal Update indicated an unexpected extra $828 million was available? The governing Tories put 100% of this money into more spending, and 0% into tax cuts.

As the Official Opposition, the Liberals said absolutely nothing about taxes. They certainly didn't call for any of the $828 million to go towards reversing Ralph Klein's $641 million tax increase.

Rather than talk about taxes, the Liberals criticized the size of the surplus, describing it as "cold," "unrealistically low," and "hide-and-seek."

The Liberals accused the Tories of "hiding" the surplus behind "creative accounting" and "pulling the wool over our eyes when they claim they've already spent the surplus." Huh?

Alberta's process of Quarterly Fiscal Updates is the most open, transparent and accountable in Canada. The Tories can be rightly criticized for breaking their election promise on taxes, but it's silly to suggest they are cooking the books.

The Liberals then attacked the Tories for their "aggressive" debt repayment program, as if a 75% reduction in debt servicing costs is a problem! The Liberals seem to have forgotten that only eight years ago, Albertans were losing 12% of their provincial tax dollars to debt servicing costs. But thanks to the Tories' "aggressive" debt repayment in the past decade, Albertans now lose only 3% of their provincial tax dollars to service the debt.

The New Democrats were also silent on taxes. Oblivious to the fact that Alberta spends more on government programs, per person, than any other province in Canada, ND Leader Raj Pannu decried the "continued underfunding of regional health authorities and school boards."

Alberta's spending on government programs today is 52% higher than six years ago. But that's not good enough for Dr. Pannu.

The Liberals' implicit message, like that of most opposition parties in other provinces and around the world, is "we would do things so much better."

It's an easy claim to make, but taxpayers deserve to know whether a party believes in bigger government or smaller government. Are dollars best left in the hands of the taxpayers who earned them, or are they best left in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats to spend? Taxpayers deserve to know what core principles and beliefs guide a party - not just its shallow claim that it will somehow, for reasons never explained, be "better" than another party.

We Albertans are still at the mercy of our 83 MLAs when it comes to tax increases and new taxes. In its current form, the Alberta Taxpayer Protection Act allows politicians to raise our taxes at any time for any reason, even if it violates a clear election promise. Taxpayer approval in a referendum is required only for the introduction of a general sales tax.

All other new taxes - and tax increases - can be imposed without politicians needing to justify them.

In contrast, taxpayers in Manitoba, Ontario, the Yukon, Switzerland, the state of Washington, and other jurisdictions around the world, have to be consulted in a referendum before tax increases go into effect. The onus is on politicians to explain and justify the tax increase. But in Alberta the onus is on taxpayers to explain and justify why we should be allowed to keep more of our own.

You would think that a "conservative" government (and some Tory MLAs still think that their government is conservative!) might introduce effective taxpayer protection legislation.

Well, it hasn't happened yet. But good ideas often take a long time before they are implemented. When taxpayer groups first began advocating for balance budget laws and debt repayment laws in the 1980s and 1990s, these ideas were dismissed as unrealistic and unworkable.

But today, eight out of ten Canadian provinces have fiscal legislation in place.

Taxpayers achieved these victories by exercising their democratic rights: writing and phoning their MLAs, and voting for candidates and parties committed to good laws.

The struggle for taxpayer protection legislation in Alberta will be no different.

Let's hope that some of our 83 MLAs start siding with taxpayers sooner rather than later.