Fiscal History Archives - Page 2 of 5

29May

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Fiscal History, Government Finances

Alberta’s Crack Cocaine: Challenges for the next Premier- Opinion

On the eve of Alberta's closest election and arguably since 1935, it's most crucial, I am reminded of an analogy I heard first around 2013. The term was used in a public forum on the recent Alberta budget. Grant Robertson, a career Alberta public servant and recently retired former deputy minister in Treasury Board compared Alberta's non-renewable resource revenue dependence with the use of crack cocaine. His comment produced a titter in the audience. When I heard this phrase come up again recently in my conversation with Todd Hirsch on 8 May, one week into the provincial election, I took notice. Mr. Hirsch, the well known ATB Financial former economist was likewise using this phrase in the same way used by Mr. Robertson about a decade ago. The ups and downs of Alberta's roller coaster a...

<em>A Better Future </em>– Recommended Reading

26Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Capital Spending, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Opinion/Research

A Better Future – Recommended Reading

Updated 27 March 2023 A Better Future: Fiscal Recommendations to Position Alberta for Success, authored by Todd Hirsch for NDP leader Rachel Notley was released Friday 23 March. Hirsch, ATB’s Chief Economist (2007-2022) is deeply knowledgeable about Alberta’s economy and the financial system having worked earlier in his career at the Bank of Canada (full disclosure: I hired Todd while I was at ATB Financial). In short, he is a respected economist and a consummate communicator, A Better Future is a valuable contribution to a long overview discussion of Alberta’s public finances. In the Introduction, Rachel Notley observes the following. Albertans want and deserve excellent healthcare and a top-flight education The Government of Alberta relies on natural resources revenue. Natural resourc...

Budget Speech- Annotated and The Economic Consequences of Mr. Toews

9Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Credit Ratings, Employment, Energy, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Intergovernmental, Opinion/Research

Budget Speech- Annotated and The Economic Consequences of Mr. Toews

Budget Speech delivered on Tuesday 28 February 2023, Legislative Assembly of Alberta Mr. Speaker, I count it a tremendous honour to rise in the House today to present Budget 2023 – the fifth I have presented on behalf of Albertans. In the fall of 2019, I put forward a four-year plan to bring the province back to fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget. In some respects, these past four years have felt like a century – in part, due to the extraordinary global challenges we faced but also because of how far we’ve come. When, as a government, we took office in 2019, Alberta had an economy that was flat-lined, and we were spending $10 billion more than comparable provinces on services, without better outcomes. Our plan to strengthen Alberta’s economic foundation was two-fold: First, to bri...

30Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Banks, Financial Institutions, Fiscal History, Opinion/Research, Politics, Uncategorized

What the Free Alberta Strategy gets wrong about Canada’s banking system

Reproduced with permission from The Conversation. January 30, 2023 2.05pm EST Author Robert L. Ascah Robert L. Ascah is a Friend of The Conversation. Research Fellow, The Parkland Institute, University of Alberta Disclosure statement Robert (Bob) L. Ascah is affiliated with Alberta NDP. Partners University of Alberta provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA. University of Alberta provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR. View all partners We believe in the free flow of information Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence. Email Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Print What is the Free Alberta Strategy, the co-creation of two lawyers and a Calgary political scientist? And ...

22Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Energy, Fiscal History, Government Finances

Lougheed letter publicizes the Alberta Oil and Gas Activity Plan- Summer 1982

This remarkable letter demonstrates how falling oil prices rang alarm bells in the Alberta government and was very much the result the effect of very high interest rates in North America driven by the U.S. Federal Reserve board and not the National Energy Program.. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS The above graph shows what governments and corporations were watching with alarm as the Fed would move rates up and down with rates nearing 20 per cent followed by a harsh recession which crippled America's auto business, At that time the auto business, like it still is today, is really a financing business based on lending on the security of these American cars. Crippling interest rates discouraged buyers and therefore oil prices. In addition, discerning American drivers were turn...

30Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Politics

Alberta PST- ESNA presentation

On Friday 21 October 2022, I made a presentation, along with two collaborators Ian Glassford and Elizabeth Smythe to the Economics Society of Northern Alberta on A Sales Tax for Alberta- Why and How published in June by Athabasca University Press. Here is the link to the Youtube channel of ESNA. Below are my slides for the presentation. Much of the question and answer session had much to do with the question of whether personal income tax is essentially a tax on consumption and why would you need to add another sales tax which is not progressive, unlike the personal income tax. Of course the progressivity of personal income tax is debatable given the vast number of specific credit and treatments on savings instruments which disproportionately benefit the well-off. The...

4Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Credit Ratings, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Opinion/Research

PST- the Political Suicide Tax

Updated 12 October 2022 Above- Interview with Bob Ascah- Mornings 630 CHED- Provincial Sales Tax- 11 October 2022. The following article is reprinted with permission of The Conversation (link to article here) which was published Tuesday, 4 October 2022. In this article I make the now familiar plea to Alberta politicians to stop the roller coaster of provincial finances by bringing in a provincial sales tax. As the article explains Albertans have become used to paying low taxes while enjoying good or in some cases superior public goods and services than other provinces' citizens. However the "Alberta Tax Advantage" has a darker side. It has produced a hard core of politicians, business groups. and citizens who hate taxes, especially a sales tax. This type of magical thinking has produced...

A Sales Tax for Alberta- Why and How Book Launch

24Sep

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Fiscal History, Government Finances, Politics

A Sales Tax for Alberta- Why and How Book Launch

This past Thursday a book launch took place at the University Club to celebrate the publication of A Sales Tax for Alberta. Below are my speaking notes and pictures from this celebration. Speaking Notes- Book Launch Book launch A Sales Tax for Alberta- Why and How University Club, Edmonton 22 September 2022 My friends, the journey has not ended, it is just beginning! An inflated ego drove this project in the vain hope that we might convince one courageous politician to choose to take on this controversial project - a sales tax for Alberta. There are so many who helped this book across the goal line providing support and thoughtful feedback. First to my wife Linda who has been both a catalyst and huge support through what became a longer journey than expected. The initial germinatio...

30Jul

By Bob Ascah1 Comment

Budget, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Politics

A Sales Tax for Alberta and the UCP leadership race

Updated 16 August 2022 Well it didn't take too long for a conscientious staffer in Travis Toews' campaign to ferret out the 4 September opinion piece in the Edmonton Journal. In the article Smith setting forward what I think are credible views about Alberta's topsy-Turvey finances stated- Instead, he (Klein) bought off progressives by spending an excessive and unsustainable amount on public services and he bought off conservatives by lowering taxes below the cost of delivering programs. Now the public service screams holy hell at the mention of austerity and taxpayers say they aren’t prepared to pay a dime more. I’m here to tell you: Everyone — on both sides of the political spectrum — needs to suck it up. Alberta needs a three-step financial reset. Step 1: Liquidate the Heritage Fund...

15Jun

By Bob Ascah3 Comments

Budget, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Politics

IT’S FINALLY ARRIVED: A Sales Tax for Alberta: Why and How

Updated 8 July 2022 Interview with Shaye Ganam 630 CHED/ 770 CHQR https://omny.fm/shows/ched-mid-morning/a-sales-tax-for-alberta-why-and-how Read Ascah's opinion piece in the Edmonton Journal 8 July 2022. No this isn't official..yet... and this isn't a prediction or April Fool's Day joke. It's a book that promises to be a summer blockbuster! Sure, I'm the editor and contributor but there are six other academics, financiers, and journalists who weigh in on this controversial subject. Graham Thomson Mel McMillan Ergete Ferede Elizabeth Smythe Ian Glassford Ken McKenzie BUT THERE'S MORE: a foreword from Kevin Taft and Afterword of Trevor Harrison. The volume is the cumulation of a project begun in the fall of 2018, prior to the last provincial elect...