Finance Minister Travis Toews gave his pre-budget address Wednesday and said Albertans can count on more cuts..“We were very clear in Budget 2019 that there would be a reduction in the size of the budget service … so again, we will continue with the general premise and plan,” Toews said..“In the future three years there will be some continued job reductions in the public sector. The vast majority of those will be through attrition, but we have been very transparent about that.”.The budget will be tabled Thursday afternoon and here is what the Western Standard is looking for..Revenue.In the October’s 2019-20 budget, revenues were projected to increase each year – marginally until 2022 – particularly oil and gas royalties but also personal income tax..Kenney introduced “bracket creep” in the last budget – a formula that does not change income tax brackets with inflation that will have some people paying more in personal income tax. However, job gains have not been as strong as the UCP predicted and that could affect the numbers more significantly than the additional revenue earned by bracket creep..Oil and gas royalties have not been a great source of income for Alberta over the last few years. In 2018, the Alberta government earned more from “other taxes” than oil and gas royalties. The 2018/19 estimate for royalties was $5.4 billion..Spending.Are there noticeable decreases in spending projected for the year? The Throne Speech, delivered only two days ago, again said there would only be a three per cent decrease in spending. Similar to what was seen last time, that may mean deeper cuts to some areas and increased spending in others..Deficit.What does the province pay out in relation to the revenue they take in. There were some areas in the budget released only four months ago that saw more cuts and others that saw slight increases in spending. Expenses moved around between departments and overall spending was $2 billion dollars higher than the last year under the NDP..In the last budget, the United Conservative Party was not optimistic about revenue increases for 2020 and did not register a notable increase until 2021 at least..The government was expecting to maintain deficit spending until 2022-23. In the 2019 budget, projected deficit for 2020 was $6.5 billion..Deirdre is a Senior Reporter with Western Standard.dmaclean@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Mitchell_AB
Finance Minister Travis Toews gave his pre-budget address Wednesday and said Albertans can count on more cuts..“We were very clear in Budget 2019 that there would be a reduction in the size of the budget service … so again, we will continue with the general premise and plan,” Toews said..“In the future three years there will be some continued job reductions in the public sector. The vast majority of those will be through attrition, but we have been very transparent about that.”.The budget will be tabled Thursday afternoon and here is what the Western Standard is looking for..Revenue.In the October’s 2019-20 budget, revenues were projected to increase each year – marginally until 2022 – particularly oil and gas royalties but also personal income tax..Kenney introduced “bracket creep” in the last budget – a formula that does not change income tax brackets with inflation that will have some people paying more in personal income tax. However, job gains have not been as strong as the UCP predicted and that could affect the numbers more significantly than the additional revenue earned by bracket creep..Oil and gas royalties have not been a great source of income for Alberta over the last few years. In 2018, the Alberta government earned more from “other taxes” than oil and gas royalties. The 2018/19 estimate for royalties was $5.4 billion..Spending.Are there noticeable decreases in spending projected for the year? The Throne Speech, delivered only two days ago, again said there would only be a three per cent decrease in spending. Similar to what was seen last time, that may mean deeper cuts to some areas and increased spending in others..Deficit.What does the province pay out in relation to the revenue they take in. There were some areas in the budget released only four months ago that saw more cuts and others that saw slight increases in spending. Expenses moved around between departments and overall spending was $2 billion dollars higher than the last year under the NDP..In the last budget, the United Conservative Party was not optimistic about revenue increases for 2020 and did not register a notable increase until 2021 at least..The government was expecting to maintain deficit spending until 2022-23. In the 2019 budget, projected deficit for 2020 was $6.5 billion..Deirdre is a Senior Reporter with Western Standard.dmaclean@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Mitchell_AB
