As you begin to collect T-4 slips for your 1998 income taxes, here's a thought to keep in mind the next time a politician boasts Alberta has the lowest taxes in the country. (Or when other politicians pooh-pooh tax relief for Albertans, preferring instead to spend your hard-earned cash.)

It's true that Albertan's overall tax burden is the lowest in Canada, (though Ontario beats us with a lower basic rate) but Alberta's tax levels ain't what they used to be.

If Albertans were subject to the same tax rates in 1998 as they were in 1983, the province would have taken $925 million less in provincial personal income tax last year. Instead of a predicted $4.5 billion in personal income tax revenue, the province would collect just under $3.6 billion.

That's because back under Peter Lougheed, your basic provincial tax rate was 38.5 percent (calculated as a percentage of federal tax) - with no surtaxes. In 1998, the rate was 44 percent, with two surtaxes tacked on top.

That important fact was contained in the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's Alberta 1999 pre-budget submission to Provincial Treasurer Stockwell Day, and given to all the other 82 MLAs. Here are some other thoughts to ponder on Albertan's tax burdens: Remember the Alberta-Ottawa agreement to hike Canada Pension Plan (CPP) taxes Well, in 2003 a $39,000 wage earner will pay almost $500 more per year in CPP taxes than they will in 1999 - $1,678 as opposed to $1,187. Given the province's agreement to hike CPP taxes, you should hold them responsible for half that increase.

And 'bracket creep' taxes (where inflation bumps you into higher tax brackets) cost someone with a taxable income of $36,624 in 1998 - an extra $30.75 in provincial tax. And that's only the amount over the 1997 'bracket creep bill.' That Albertan paid a total of $409.13 in extra provincial tax in 1998 alone, compared to what they would have paid had tax thresholds been indexed for inflation over the past decade.

And beside rising payroll taxes and the effects of bracket creep taxation, property taxes went up for most people in 1998. Since all of those three taxes are likely to creep up again in 1999, the need for provincial income tax relief is obvious but whether the politicians are clued in is another question.

Debt repayment is ahead of schedule, program spending has increased significantly, but tax relief is the orphaned child thus far. Until politicians make tax relief part of budget process from the very beginning, and plan for it the way they budget for more money from the bureaucracy, tax relief is likely to stay abandoned.

As part of the Federation's submission, we advocate that the province take the same approach to tax cuts as they did to deficit and debt reduction - a planned, legislated, and long-term approach.

To start with, begin to cut both provincial surtaxes this year - the ones introduced 12 years ago to fight a deficit that disappeared 5 years ago- and eliminate them entirely in 2000. The Federation recommends cuts in those two taxes for taxpayer savings in 1999 of $250 million. That won't make Albertans as lightly taxed as they were 16 years ago under Peter Lougheed, but it would be a start.