It is nearing the end of the 90-day self-imposed deadline that the new provincial government set out for itself for pushing through some major reforms. So how should taxpayers judge the Liberals in Victoria thus far Here's a rough guide. Personal tax relief of $1.15 billion this year, with a cumulative effect in the 2002-03 budget year of $1.5 billion. Splendid start. Grade: A.

Business tax relief of $224 million this year with a cumulative effect of $633 million next year. Businesses don't pay taxes - consumers, shareholders, and employees do - through higher prices, lower returns on investments, and lower wages. Grade: C+. (B.C. has a long way to go before it is competitive with Alberta and Ontario on business rates.)

$6,000 stipend for MLAs who chair a government caucus committee: Full disclosure: I was boarding a ferry back to Victoria after a holiday when a journalist phoned and asked about this measure. I assumed these positions were not new but renamed Select Standing Committees. Wrong. These are new positions, and although the government may justify this stipend because it is parallel to what Select Committee chairs receive, a $1.5 billion deficit this year means the $6,000 stipend was a dumb optical move. The extra $6,000 undercuts the moral authority of the government precisely when MLAs should demonstrate that they too can sacrifice. $6,000 per chair is tiny relative to a $24 billion budget, but the extra stipend could have and still should be delayed until the budget is balanced. Grade: F.

A government "waste-buster" website. This site will surely receive many e-mails that suggest the government scrap the $6,000 stipend for MLAs. Moreover, asking government to check its own appetite for tax dollars is a bit like asking a grizzly bear to go easy on tasty berries. Nevertheless, it has potential. Grade: B.

20% reduction of cabinet salaries. If ministers do not achieve their individual and collective responsibilities - i.e., live within their budgeted means every year - their pay is chopped by 20 percent. Grade: A.

Leaner government. Aside from the above-noted minor moves in this direction, which will see some minor reductions in some areas of spending, the era of smaller government has not yet arrived in B.C. In fact, the government will spend $455 million more than the March budget forecast. True, the Liberals can blame it on the NDP for now, but until taxpayers see actual smaller government on the bottom line, they should send MLAs back home with this item marked as a "D," with a note that much work needs to be done.

A $1.5 billion deficit. The budget estimate for spending in fiscal year 2000-2001 was first estimated at $22.078 billion. As of the recent budget update for this fiscal year (2001-2002), spending will hit $24.75 billion this year - an almost $2.7 billion rise in one year. The Liberals have an unenviable job of trying to satisfy demands for health care spending, public sector wage increases set in motion by the previous government, tax relief, and a balanced budget all at the same time. But most other provinces cut spending in the 1990s, introduced tax cuts, increased health care spending and most balanced the budget by the end of the decade.

The combination of all of the above is not impossible in B.C., but other provinces have a five to ten-year headstart on the "cutting spending" front. Given the short to medium-term loss in revenues due to tax cuts on one side of the ledger and the unsustainable rise in spending on the other, the BC government needs to move fast to cut expenditures in some areas and curtail spending growth in others.

Grade: Incomplete.