Albertans don't need more taxes, says Wildrose Party

Alberta'sWildrose Party says there is no need for the provincial government to give more tax powers to municipalities.

• Alberta to release 2014-15 budget March 6
• Alberta mayors seek details on federal infrastructure cash

The City of Calgary is looking at a list of 27 different ways of raising revenues andhopes to use some of them if it can reacha deal with the province on a city charter.

The Wildrose Party is against that ideabutsays it has a plan to give municipalities more control over their money without hiking taxes.

The party says itwould helpmunicipalitieswith their infrastructure needs.

Leader Danielle Smith says theprovince should transfer 10 per cent of all taxes includingpersonal and corporate income taxes, education tax, tobacco tax and fuel tax and 10 per cent of any budget surplusto municipalities to spend as they see fit.

There is a way to make sure municipalities have the dollars they need without raising taxes, and we believe this is it, Smith said in a release.

The 10/10 community infrastructure transfer will result in more money reaching municipalities and it will do so without burdening Alberta families with new taxes.

Smith says under the plan, municipalities would share in nearly $2 billionin the 2015-16 budget year which is $500million more than they are currently getting.

She says the plan delivers more stable funding than the grant system and avoids the need for municipalities to fight for new taxing powers.

Wildrose MLA and finance critic Rob Anderson says Albertans don't need any more taxes.He says governments need to use tax money more wisely.

"They pay enough. We already collect as a province more taxation per person than any province in the countrythat's a true stat. Imean people like to say, 'Oh, this flat tax is such a problem' and so forth it's not. We collect a ton of money through our taxation system,so we've got a lot of money coming in."

But Municipal Affairs MinisterKen Hughes says the plan is flawed.

"Today the opposition reiterated their 10-10scheme for funding municipalities, a proposal which has already been shown to leave municipalities with less, not more provincial funding," he said.

"In the current fiscal yearour government is providing $1.98 billion to municipalities. The opposition proposal would cut $250 million from that funding."

He said the Wildrose plan alsofails to include a host of programs currently in place to help municipalities likefamily and community support services, municipal police assistance grants,911 call centersupportandfamily and community housing funding.