Taxpayers are outraged when they see how some of their money is spent.

Industry Canada recently spent $37,000 on focus groups to help decide which of 13 possible titles would be best for its Innovation Paper, and then rejected all 13. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) granted $1.6 million to Marie-France Wagner to study "the evolution of royal processions in French towns between 1484 and 1615."

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada spent over $40 million to build a brand new Indian reserve in Northern Manitoba for 278 members of the Marcel Colomb Band, who now live only 30 km away in the Town of Lynn Lake. Members of the Ontario legislature were caught in an expense account fiasco (35 bankers boxes of claims) that revealed $1,000 was paid for two tickets to Vegas for a boxing match.

Saskatchewan's government initiated an $18 million renovation project to modernize the land titles system; costs ballooned to $107 million but so far not one buyer has been found for the failed system. The City of Winnipeg spent $1 million for a toilet on the Provencher footbridge as part of an ambitious $5 million urban facelift project. And can taxpayers ever forget the useless federal gun registry, which will cost us two billion dollars by 2012 if it isn't scrapped?

This kind of outrageous wasteful spending is a symptom of a disease I will call "tax-itus" - that ugly Canadian condition of losing almost half your earnings to pay for three levels of government.

Each year the Fraser Institute adds up Canadians' total tax bill, including federal, provincial and municipal taxes on income, sales and property. Considering this total tax bill, the average Canadian in 2002 started working for himself on June 28.

Wasteful spending is a symptom of tax-itus, but not its cause. The cause of tax-itis is politicians and bureaucrats who think that government must play the role of provider, rescuer, Santa Clause or God. Tax-itis sets in when government takes responsibility away from individuals and families, and acts like a big parent.

The cure for tax-itis lies in government focussing on doing tasks that cannot be performed by individuals, families, and voluntary associations in the private and charitable sectors. Tax Freedom Day would come in March or April - and not in June - if government limited itself to essential tasks like policing, national defence, public infrastructure, and the administration of justice through the criminal and civil courts.

And yet within the past year, the Alberta government loaned $42 million to businesses. When banks, venture capitalists and other private investors will not voluntarily risk their own money to invest in a project, why should that business get money from taxpayers?

The Alberta government recently gave $20,600 to Edmonton's Al-Rashid Cultural Association, $20,500 to the Red Deer S.P.C.A., $6,000 to the Seniors Five-O-Club in Didsbury, $7,998 to the Water Valley Community Association, $25,000 to the Wetaskiwin Boys and Girls Clubs, $24,123 to the Pet Therapy Society of Northern Alberta, $20,000 to the Brownvale Community Club, and $25,000 to the Medicine Hat Volunteerism in Action Association.

Why shouldn't these groups have to raise their own money from their own supporters? If these groups fail to persuade people to donate voluntarily, why should Albertans be forced to donate involuntarily through their taxes?

Each dollar given to these groups is a dollar that you cannot give to the charity of your choice.

Last month the federal and Alberta governments proudly announced, in a joint news release, that an additional $500,000 in taxpayers money would go to "Growing Alberta" in order to "raise awareness and understanding of the agri-food industry in 2003/04." Wouldn't this $500,000 do more good if left in the pockets of farmers and other taxpayers?

Some $17 million will go to build 420 "affordable" housing units. These new units are certainly "affordable" for those who get to live in them.

But they are less "affordable" for the rest of us who must work from January 1 to June 27 to pay taxes - plus pay 100% of our own housing costs. People with mental or physical handicaps deserve compassion, but why is government in the business of building houses and then choosing who gets to live in them?

The Alberta government spends millions of our tax dollars on anti-tobacco campaigns. Yet vast quantities of information on the harm of tobacco are already available - without charge - from newspapers, magazines, health professionals, and libraries, not to mention teachers, parents and pastors.

So why does government continue taking money from us and using that money to persuade us that something is bad for us?

The Alberta government is giving $2 million to the Vertigo Mystery Theatre of Calgary to build a new performing arts centre.

But we Canadians would have more money left over for theatre tickets - and for donating to a new arts facility - if governments didn't take 49% of our earnings.

With unfocused spending like this, there is no reason why this Tuesday's provincial budget can't give Albertans a $680 million tax cut to reverse last year's tax increases.