400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

[nephilim]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

but whats the point of having to hire a whole new dept of workers and create for beauraucracy just to cut some cheques when a one time tax decrease would have the same effect of putting 400 bucks in our pocket without the burden of administration and delivery?

[Derick]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

Crap, do I qualify for this?

[liquid]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

LOL.... nope Derick... sorry buddy.

I don't mind the idea of a rebate... however I think people are giving Klein to much credit. He's not a bad guy by any means, but with the price of Oil these days, almost anyone could run this province with the funds he has. He is smart however for spending what the province is making, or else the Feds would be all over Alberta trying to turn Oil into a national resource.

[Khyron]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

but whats the point of having to hire a whole new dept of workers and create for beauraucracy just to cut some cheques when a one time tax decrease would have the same effect of putting 400 bucks in our pocket without the burden of administration and delivery?

Because a 1% cut or whatever would benefit the rich far more than the lower income, including non-tax paying children who are in theory the ones hurt more by the gas hikes.

Once the system is in place, we could see regular dividend cheques when revs are high, and no cheques of prices fall, instead of income tax decreases which is a pretty smart strategy. It makes it look like a flat % tax, but in reality that dividend is being spread evenly even though some people contributed much more than others.

Khyron

[Flanders]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

I don't mind the idea of a rebate... however I think people are giving Klein to much credit. He's not a bad guy by any means, but with the price of Oil these days, almost anyone could run this province with the funds he has. He is smart however for spending what the province is making, or else the Feds would be all over Alberta trying to turn Oil into a national resource.

yeah, but if Klein didn't make the province debt-free, you wouldn't be seeing any surplus!

[Kor]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

By that argument, we could add another percentage to the income tax - it's only a few dollars, but as a whole makes billions more revenue. Think of what we can do! Or imagine if we doubled taxes!!! We could do even more wonderful things!!!!!

Your sarcasm isn't needed to make a point. But by all means I would be in favour of adding more to income tax if the money were to be put into worthwhile programs. I do not mind paying tax if the money goes to a good cause. The problem I have with government taxation is that a lot of the money they get from taxes is wasted. That is a whole different conversation.

This is a different scenario though. This is a one time situation where the money is already in the government coffers and nobody is missing it. We do not see public riots for the tax rate being outrageously high.

You may personally like the cheque because you will put it to good use, but a lot of people will waste the money on something dumb.

In my opinion if you are in favour of the cheque you forfeit your right to complain about things like education, health-care and infrastructure. Because if you care enough to complain why don't you care enough to donate $400.

[Silverstoned]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

real snow.. oh probably end of october mid november i'm guessing.. 14 day trend on weather network shows not great weather like highs of like 10ish for the next while but it can always change..

\


Thank-you Dar Macbool...

Hey, what ever happened to Dar, haven't seen him on A-Channel since they were taken over by City TV?

[Aleks]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

I don't know what I'll do with mine, maybe squirrel it away, maybe buy another camera lens, I truly don't know.....

[Khyron]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

Your sarcasm isn't needed to make a point.

I wasn't being sarcastic. If you think the gov is better at spending your money, forfeit your tax return come April, sell your car and give the money to them as well.

This is a one time situation where the money is already in the government coffers and nobody is missing it. We do not see public riots for the tax rate being outrageously high.

So what - our user fees keep going up, our gas, our energy costs, our transit passes; it's all tax one way or another. The point is the coffers are overflowing and 1/6th of it is being given back. 5/6th of it is still being kept for your "good uses".

You may personally like the cheque because you will put it to good use, but a lot of people will waste the money on something dumb.

And buying rims or turbo kits is not dumb? Pretty much anything we buy with that money is dumb to someone else. Who are you to say what someone can and can't spend their money on? If they go blow it on bingo, so what?

In my opinion if you are in favour of the cheque you forfeit your right to complain about things like education, health-care and infrastructure. Because if you care enough to complain why don't you care enough to donate $400.

And what do you think would happen if we just tossed another billion or two at road projects? Concrete has already gone up 40% due to all the construction demand, and labour is at a premium - you can't just throw money at stuff and expect it to solve problems.

So not only will I take my 400 dollars, but I'll demand even more back AND ***** and complain about infrastructure, education and health-care.

If you won a million dollars, and were smart about it, you would pay off your debts, invest a good chunk of it, make sure your house is paid off, and spend some on yourself. Balance.

Khyron

[stefan]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

You may personally like the cheque because you will put it to good use, but a lot of people will waste the money on something dumb.

yeah, i agree, but i dont mind deciding where my portion goes on my own. Most people will likely blow it on useless stuff, and perhaps its this irresposability that causes many to believe its best if our government makes the investment decision for us. Its a little on the communist side to have Alberta keep the money and decide what is best. I admit, 400$ would be a nice contribution to some 17's for my car, but I acknowledge that i could pay my health care, gas bills, kids school event fees, etc. if I feel strongly that thats where the money should go. There has been progress as far as funding in other areas goes, and regular budgets have already been increased... so I'm alright with accepting this little bonus. Anyway, yeah, people will likely waste it, but to decide not to give it out on the grounds that people cant think for themselves seems not right.

[Smartiepants]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

Mine is going to education, aka tuition.

It's an idea that is debatable, but its nice to have it is all I am going to add. Plus, if they saved it, the federal government would just take it.

[Kor]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

Who are you to say what someone can and can't spend their money on? If they go blow it on bingo, so what?

I am not saying what their money should be spent on I am saying what government money should be spent on. I say public interest spending is better for society than bingo. Who am I to say? Why, a taxpayer of course, how silly.

And what do you think would happen if we just tossed another billion or two at road projects? Concrete has already gone up 40% due to all the construction demand, and labour is at a premium - you can't just throw money at stuff and expect it to solve problems.

Many problems can be solved by throwing money at them. Giving one counter-example does not disprove it.

So not only will I take my 400 dollars, but I'll demand even more back AND ***** and complain about infrastructure, education and health-care.

Oh I am sure you will.

[Khyron]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

I am not saying what their money should be spent on I am saying what government money should be spent on. I say public interest spending is better for society than bingo. Who am I to say? Why, a taxpayer of course, how silly.

Then as a taxpayer, you can donate your tax refund back to the government. As it is, they are screwing us out of billions of dollars in interest by withholding more than is usually required - they keep any interest that your refund generates in the year before you finally get it back. Why didn't you donate the money you spent on your turbo kit to some charity or government project?

But aside from that, if they had instead announced the tax on gas would drop 20 cents, would you still have your reservations? It's the same money, being returned only to drivers though, so we'll need to refund some money to the people that use taxis or buy bus fares. But then you're punishing those who carpooled, drove bikes or bought smart cars. So better just to cut them a cheque.

Many problems can be solved by throwing money at them. Giving one counter-example does not disprove it.

Well we need more schools - so let's build 10 this year. Who's going to build them? You? With what? Material costs would go through the roof. We could buy every student a laptop! But how's that improving the education situation? Seems an expensive investement with little or no returns. Roads are planned and budgeted for, as are schools and hospitals. But you can't just go to the store and buy one, nor can you do it all at once. Better for stable employment to span it out over a decade anyway.

How about building more hospitals? Same construction problem as schools. Um, hire more doctors so we have a maximum wait time of 2 minutes? Great, but now you've got expensive doctors sitting idle when things are not as busy.

How about you give a couple of examples where you think 2 billion would be better spent and we'll see if I can find some faults?

Oh I am sure you will.

Which is why I don't want to live in Russia.

Khyron

[liquid]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

Well we need more schools - so let's build 10 this year. Who's going to build them? You? With what? Material costs would go through the roof. We could buy every student a laptop! But how's that improving the education situation? Seems an expensive investement with little or no returns. Roads are planned and budgeted for, as are schools and hospitals. But you can't just go to the store and buy one, nor can you do it all at once. Better for stable employment to span it out over a decade anyway.

How about building more hospitals? Same construction problem as schools. Um, hire more doctors so we have a maximum wait time of 2 minutes? Great, but now you've got expensive doctors sitting idle when things are not as busy.

Your logic isn't quite following through here. You're saying that the government cannot solve problems by throwing money at them? The primary reason the eduction system (K-12) sucks, is that they don't have enough teachers. Now ask yourself; why don't they have enough teachers... and the answer quite simply is that they aren't throwing the money at it! If they did, that would solve a large portion of the problem. Now I'm not saying that every problem can be solved with money.... but I think it is fair to say that many things could be at least improved.

Do you honestly think that building 10 schools would actually inflate construction costs in this province? No.
Would building 10 schools inflate labour costs? No.

You have to look at things on a larger scale.

[VAG_Tech]

Re: 400 dollar cheques for albertans.. thoughts

My $400 is going towards a NVD Hoodie! If we ever get something going...