Before the 2001 provincial election Premier Klein promised Albertans that "the only way taxes are going is down." In 2002 he broke that promise with a $641 million tax increase, raising the health care premium tax to $1,056 per Alberta family, as well as hiking other taxes. This week's Budget 2003-04 cuts corporate income tax by $94 million - just one seventh of last year's increase. Unfortunately, Premier Klein's broken promise remains broken.

Spending on programs in Budget 2003-04 is the highest ever in Alberta's history: $20.3 billion. It would be nice if this $20.3 billion were "government money" but unfortunately there is no such thing. Every penny is taken from taxpayers, whether through income tax, fuel tax, property tax, business tax or the health care premium tax. Politicians of all stripes love spending other people's money, and Alberta's Tories are no exception. At $6,420 per person, Alberta's "conservatives" spend on a scale that would make Saskatchewan New Democrats and B.C. Liberals green with envy.

If Tory Alberta spent $5,706 per person on programs like Liberal B.C. does, Albertans could enjoy a $2.3 billion tax cut - enough to reduce our personal income tax from 10% to 5%. If Alberta spent $5,563 per person on programs like NDP Saskatchewan does, Albertans could enjoy a $2.7 billion tax cut - enough to eliminate the provincial school property tax and the nine-cents-per-litre provincial fuel tax and the health care premium tax.

But no such luck. Instead, Premier Klein has increased spending on government programs by 60% in seven years, from $12.7 billion in 1996 to $20.3 billion in 2003. During the same time period, Alberta's population grew only 14%. If Premier Klein had increased spending by "only" 55% he could have reversed all of last year's tax hike, rather than one seventh of it.

Criticizing is easy, but what should the government do differently

Public sector wages for nurses, teachers, doctors, MLAs, and government employees, which eat up most of the provincial budget, should not grow faster than private sector wages. How many people in the private sector see increases of 30%, 22% or 14% Rather than helping only one group with double-digit raises, the government should help all Albertans - including public sector workers - by reducing their personal income tax.

Our health care system should be restructured to introduce accountability and incentives for efficiency. Currently, neither doctors nor patients have any personal incentives to reduce costs in our Soviet-style system. Further, the government is in conflict of interest as the primary health care funder, the primary health care provider, and the primary health care evaluator. Is it any wonder that Alberta's health care spending has more than doubled in just eight years

Most important, Albertans need taxpayer protection legislation and spending control legislation. The former would require new taxes and tax increases to be put to a province-wide referendum for voter approval before going into effect. The latter would limit growth in government spending to inflation and population growth. Without these laws, Alberta politicians will retain the right to raise any tax at any time for any reason, with almost no accountability. And without a spending control law, Premier Klein's broken promise will remain broken for a very long time.