The stench of provincial election buying is in the Saskatchewan air. Our government, after years of failures, scandals and embarrassment, appears to be preparing for a run at another mandate.

Whether or not there will be anything in this campaign in the way of tax relief is anyone's guess. Before the hot air starts blowing from politicians of all stripes, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) would like to suggest a few election promises we can throw our support behind. Here are five election promises we would dearly love to pester our future government in to actually keeping:

Reduce school taxes by 40 per cent over four years. CTF supporters identify school taxes as the number one public policy issue in Saskatchewan. Currently, property taxes account for 60 per cent of K-12 school funding, and are Saskatchewan taxpayers' fastest rising cost. In rural areas, school taxes have risen 64 per cent faster than inflation. Reducing school taxes by 10 per cent of current levels each year for four years would save taxpayers around $240 million a year.

Report all of government's finances - including Crown corporations - on a quarterly basis. It's time to join the modern world. Saskatchewan is one of the last jurisdictions in North America that hasn't adopted modern accounting and reporting practices, as is pointed out annually by the Provincial Auditor. This has provided an easy "out" for the government - allowing them to tell us the budget is balanced, when anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of mathematics can tell you otherwise. It's embarrassing, and the NDP should be ashamed for not making the necessary changes.

Establish fixed election dates. The time has come for all governments in Canada to follow BC's lead in adopting fixed election dates. There is nothing more offensive than having a government sprinkling the electorate with goodies in a mysterious lead-up to an election call when it best suits their re-election chances. Fixed election dates provide built-in accountability by making it easier for voters to judge the effectiveness of their governments. The next government should decide where they want to be in October of 2007, and set out a business plan to get us there. It's as simple as it sounds.

Return a portion of provincial fuel taxes to municipalities for infrastructure. Taxes are universally too high in Saskatchewan. That being said, some taxes are better than others. Property taxes are the most onerous, inefficient and unfair taxes around. That's why fuel taxes should be used as a user fee and shared with the municipalities for roads. Returning two cents of the 15 cents collected by the province would provide municipalities with $40 million to share between them and start catching up on road repair. The catch is this: Don't allow fuel tax dollars to fall into the hands of city managers who are tempted to bloat their budgets and not pass savings on to property taxpayers (see next promise).

Enact taxpayer protection and balanced budget legislation. To hold our governments accountable, we need legislation that requires explicit public consent for future tax increases or the implementation new taxes, and real legislation to prevent deficits. This protection should be extended to property taxpayers as well.

The question is this: Will this campaign be one of substance, or will it be the usual vacuous pandering