Ordinary citizens don't pay much attention to what their politicians do in the Legislature and most days, and that's probably just as well. As Germany's Bismarck once said, watching politics being carried out is like watching sausage being made - the appetite is less after as compared to before the event.

Despite that, the public should look in on their MLAs now and then. Here then is a brief review of some of the important taxpayer related legislation.

Balanced Budget Act (Bill 28): Premier Ujjal Dosanjh recognized that this was a cost-free way to distance himself from his predecessor Glen Clark, as well as to get a few compliments (and some well-deserve laughs for the deathbed conversion.) Predictably, MLAs who don't yet understand that $2.8 billion a year in total interest, a result of past deficits, is a dumb way to spend tax dollars, opposed the bill before being yanked into line.

To be sure, the law is weak and it won't matter to this government, if, as the polls indicate, the NDP is on their way out. But Bill 28 contains one highlight: starting in 2004, cabinet ministers will be docked 20% of their cabinet (not full) salary if deficits are run. (The other highlight is actually contained in Bill 2, the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act, which mandates cleaner government books.)

The weak parts of the balanced budget law: No legislated protection against tax hikes, no legislated cap on spending (say, where population growth plus inflation is the total allowable increase,) no voter approval necessary for repeal of the law, no prohibition on deficits caused by capital spending, and nothing that would prevent hiding future deficits in newly created crown corporations.

The bill is a nod in the right direction, but it won't win any awards for substance.

Income Tax Amendment Act (Bill 19): The government is selling this law, which de-linked BC tax calculations from the federal system, as an advantage for BC's taxpayers, in part because "bracket creep" taxes were killed.

Don't buy the hype.

The much ballyhooed end to bracket creep taxes (where inflation pushed taxpayers into higher tax brackets) happened because federal Finance Minister Paul Martin killed the insidious $90-billion-over-ten-years tax in February. The real reason BC's government de-linked in March was sly and not at all in the interests of taxpayers. Because the federal government cut taxes this year, and is planning further cuts over the next several years, the Province wanted to avoid falling tax rates.

Just as in the past when Ottawa would raise tax rates, (or when bracket creep taxes would do it automatically), and thus boost provincially linked tax takes as well, this process was about to go into reverse. That meant provincial taxes would be cut automatically as federal taxes declined. Bill 19 was thus designed to prevent this. Now, Victoria decides when and if taxes would be cut, and then takes credit for tax cuts that would have happened due to federal policy anyway.

The last thing to note about the end of the legislative session is BC Finance Minister Paul Ramsey's nonsensical attack on the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Mr. Ramsey called us "radical."

Thinking over his comment, I reviewed what it is the CTF has long advocated in studies presented to governments, press releases, and commentaries: Among other items, we've called for balanced budget laws, a cut in taxes, transparency and accountability in government books. Given that the government has now, finally adopted (weakly in some cases) such ideas, I can only conclude that Mr. Ramsey will soon be calling us for advice on what to do next..