- Taxpayers will be watching Throne Speech to see if health premium gets the axe

EDMONTON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today delivered another installment of petitions to abolish the health care premium tax to Premier Stelmach's office at the Legislature.

This delivery of 2,096 petitions adds to the 9,107 petitions already delivered to the Alberta government over past few years.

"Under Premier Klein, the health care premium not only remained, but went up by 29 percent in 2002. The CTF is hoping Premier Stelmach will see the light and axe this terrible tax," stated CTF-Alberta director Scott Hennig.

The health care premium costs $12.7-million per year to administer and collect, with 40 per cent of it ($4.5-million in 2005-06) going to pay private collection agencies.

"This tax is not only regressive by punishing low-to-middle income families the most, but it's expensive to administer and collect," concluded Hennig.

Since 2003, the CTF has delivered petitions containing 11,203 names to the Alberta government calling for the elimination of health care premiums. The petition will remain active as long as the tax remains in place.

The petition can be downloaded or signed on-line HERE