Three cheers for Mr. Klein! After suffering months of criticism over his government's Bill 11, it's time the Premier was thrown a laurel for cutting taxes via Bill 18. All Albertans (and I emphasize all) stand to benefit from the government's recently announced tax cut.

The Klein administration plans to cut personal income taxes by a further $450 million over and above the $850 million announced in last February's budget.

The new single personal income tax rate, originally scheduled to come in at 11 percent, will be pared down to 10.5 percent and the basic personal exemption (the amount of money one can make before having to pay income tax) will be increased to $12,900 from $11,600. The cuts follow the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's 2000 pre-budget recommendation for a cut to the rate that would result in a $1.3 billion savings.

Now there are those, if you can believe it, who say that Mr. Klein's tax cuts are a bad thing. These critics claim that the new single tax system (it is a single tax and not a flat tax because all the existing credits remain in place) will punish the middle-class and reward the rich.

Not true. After crunching the numbers one finds that, in fact, in many cases middle-class earners will receive a proportionally larger tax cut than high- or low-income earners. A one-income family with two children earning $40,000, for example, will see a tax reduction of $1,206 or 3 percent of income from 1999 to 2001. In contrast, the same family earning $100,000 a year would accrue a savings of $2,676 or 2.7 percent of income.

This does not mean, however, that Alberta's poor or wealthy will lose out on the cuts. Bill 18 will drop about 190,000 low-income Albertans from the tax rolls - the poor will pay no provincial income tax at all. And upper-income earners will have an incentive to earn even more income as marginal rates move lower.

"Well, O.K.," say the critics, "maybe everyone will get a deep and equitable tax cut after all - but all this cutting will lead to a drop in revenue, placing health and education funding at risk."

Again, not true. This tax cut will boost productivity and increase revenues over the long term. We've seen this happen in the U.S., Ireland, Holland, and most recently right here in our own backyard in Ontario. Our provincial cousins have seen their tax rate drop by more than 30%, yet personal income tax revenues have gone from $14.8 billion to $17.5 billion since the Harris government took power. Put that in your peace pipe and smoke it.

The new single tax system, although not perfect (it is still far too complicated and the rate is, arguably, still too high), will be a boon to the middle-class, the poor and the wealthy alike. Bill 18 is not a zero-sum initiative. Everyone wins with this tax cut - both in the short term through personal tax savings, and in the long term through increases in revenue to support government services.

Klein's detractors should put away their placards and bullhorns on this one. There's nothing to protest here - only good public policy.