Government Finances Archives - Page 11 of 11

Energy Wars in the 1970s- Hyndman’s files

26Nov

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Government Finances, Intergovernmental, Uncategorized

Energy Wars in the 1970s- Hyndman’s files

Two more excerpts from the files of the late Lou Hyndman come from the mid 1970s. The disputes being addressed by senior political leaders followed soon after the OPEC oil embargo. The conflict which emerged between Ottawa and the consuming provinces (e.g. Ontario) and Alberta involved a bitter fight over which order of government would collect the lion's share of the rapid increase in the world price of oil. The first excerpt is from a speech given by the then Treasurer, Gordon Miniely at a finance ministers' conference. The second extract is from a speech, presumably authored, by J.Peter Meekison, a special intergovernmental affairs advisor and then deputy minister of Alberta's Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs department dated in December 1974. The speech is significant as i...

30Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Government Finances, Politics

Sales Tax for Alberta?

Recently there has been a renewed interest in a sales tax for Alberta. Grant Bishop of the C.D. Howe Institute writing a "Shadow Budget" for Alberta, has suggested the introduction of a sales tax after the budget is balanced through spending cuts. In a recent report from the Parkland Institute, Cutting Through the Blue Ribbon, authors Bob Ascah, Trevor Harrison, and Richard Mueller conclude that a provincial sales tax, harmonized with the federal Goods and Services Tax, is an appropriate fiscal measure to achieve fiscal sustainability. SUch a revenue measure would directly address Alberta's chronic vulnerability to fluctuating commodity prices. Then in an October 25th piece in The Globe and Mail, Max Fawcett argues that Jason Kenney, like Richard Nixon going to China, is uniquely placed ...

Critical Review of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances (MacKinnon Report)

30Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Government Finances

Critical Review of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances (MacKinnon Report)

This analysis of the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances: Report and Recommendations (McKinnon report) includes a description of the construction of the panel- its membership, its mandate, process, and its members’ experience and predispositions. In the second part of the paper, I describe how the construction of the panel predetermined its recommendations. And finally, using textual analysis, I examine the basic assumptions used by the Report’s authors to construct their interpretation of how to improve the provincial government’s fiscal standing. Composition of Panel On 7 May, three weeks after the election of the UCP, Premier Kenney and Travis Toews, Treasury Board President and Minister of Finance announced the formation of the Blue-Ribbon panel. As most commentators quickly reali...

Journey to obsession: a sales tax for Alberta (Part 1)

29Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Government Finances, Politics

Journey to obsession: a sales tax for Alberta (Part 1)

The following is a draft of the preface for the unnamed as yet book title about a sales tax for Alberta- hopefully forthcoming in the summer of 2019. The following is a personal set of experiences related to the sales tax discussion that is not included in the book. It's the story of my interest, then obsession, about the rationale for Alberta adopting a sales tax.. One of my initiatives at the Institute for Public Economics (UofA) when I became Director was to initiate a policy analysis publication. The first endeavour, (of three), was a paper by Dr. Ergete Ferede of MacEwan University. The paper, entitled “The Response of Tax Bases to the Business Cycle: The Case for Alberta,” looked at the volatility of certain tax sources, including a PST. I vividly remember the following fro...

22Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Government Finances

An Alberta Sales Tax?Really!

The presentation below from my presentation on 20 March 2019 to the Gyro Club of Edmonton. The presentation summarizes many of the arguments in a book I am editing which hopefully will be available this summer. The PowerPoint presentation and speaking notes examine the problem of the provincial government's fiscal dependence on non-renewable resource revenue and economic dominance of the energy sector. The presentation also highlights difficulties which started in the early 1980s when the provincial government decided to take a short-term view and suspend payments of resource revenue into the Heritage Fund. At this time, all investment income accruing to the Fund went to government program spending. The words "sales tax" will not be uttered voluntarily by the two main political lead...