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Klein's 'User Fee Taxmania' Continues
Preliminary Report of the Fees and Charges Committee being Kept Under wraps, says Liberal Critic Sapers
Edmonton - Alberta Liberal Caucus Press Release; The Klein government is continuing to tax Albertans through the backdoor by withholding the results of a preliminary report on the $1.345 billion in user fees and charges it collects from Albertans, says Alberta Liberal Treasury Critic Howard Sapers.
Assuming that 10% of the government's user fees and charges exceed the cost of service and are actually taxes in disguise, this means that Albertans could potentially be paying $11 million per month in taxes in contravention of the 1998 Supreme Court ruling in the Eurig Estates case.
Sapers has learned that the preliminary report of the Fees and Charges Committee, chaired by the Member for St. Albert, has been completed, but the Klein government is not prepared to make the results public until the presentation of Budget 2000.
According to the terms of reference of the Fees and Charges Committee, a preliminary report was expected in the fall of 1999. On December 2, 1999, in the Legislative Assembly, the Provincial Treasurer indicated that an interim report would be completed "fairly soon."
Another 119 pages of analysis on user fees and charges were generated during November 1999. This brings the total number of pages of analysis being withheld from Albertans to 818 pages and counting.
"What is so damaging to the government within this preliminary report that they want to keep its contents under wraps? Just how many of Alberta's 800 plus user fees and charges are actually taxes? How is the government going to deal with the vast array of fees imposed by Alberta Registries, some of which could exceed the cost of service? Are the fees imposed by delegated administrative organizations, and approved by individual Ministers, part of this review?" asked Sapers. "These are questions taxpayers want some answers to now, not three months down the line."
"The government doesn't have any problem eliminating a surtax that applies to less than 20% of Alberta taxpayers, but refuses to consider an immediate rollback on $1.345 billion in user fees and charges that effect virtually every Albertan. I can't believe that after one year of analysis this government has no idea how many of its 800 plus user fees are actually taxes," said Sapers.