June 27, 2013 Province’s financial statements prove PCs failing to plan for future Calgary – The annual reports released by the government today prove that the PCs have failed to properly budget for the future and are instead once again raiding the Contingency Fund to cover the deficit. Alberta Liberals support government efforts to help Albertans rebuild in the wake of the historic flood, which may cost upwards of $3 billion, but insist plans must be made now to support Albertans over the next 10 to 20 years. Calgary Liberal MLA and Treasury Board and Finance Critic Kent Hehr says the government must be held accountable for the huge $2.8 billion deficit, as it can no longer hide behind the so called bitumen bubble. “We need to be honest about what is happening in Alberta right now and we have to talk about tax fairness,” says Hehr. “We simply cannot keep stealing from the Contingency Fund to cover the huge gap between revenues and expenditures. Why do we have a rainy day fund? To help us pay for disasters like the one we are facing, but we have depleted that fund and now it is almost completely gone.” The Contingency Fund, formerly the Sustainability Fund, was worth $17 billion but after years of using it to cover the deficit it is down to $3.3 billion at year end. The Fund should not be used to cover deficits like the government did this budget year. It should be a standalone fund only used for emergency. The only way do this and continue to build Alberta and plan for the future is to raise corporate taxes and return to a progressive tax structure. “If we want to have stable, predictable, sustainable funding, and put savings into both the Heritage and Contingency Funds, then we must raise corporate taxes and return to progressive taxation,” says Hehr. “When former conservative Finance Minister Ted Morton tells us we have a revenue problem and our fiscal structure is broken, the argument is over.” Alberta Liberals believe in delivering taxpayers better value for money and ending the province’s overreliance on volatile resource revenue and returning to a fair progressive tax system. -30- For more information, contact: Justin Benko, Communications Consultant Tel: 780.644.7968. Cell: 780.995.0381. Fax: 780.427.3697. e-mail: [email protected]
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 22:32:40 +0000
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