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Originally Posted by Calgarian
Doubtful. Equalization is distributed from of the federal government tax pool. If the program didn't exist, then in theory every Albertan would have just slightly more money in their bank account
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I'm basing my response off YUNEMUS's question about if the Federal revenues now needed to pay for equalization remained in Alberta.
Without equalization to pay for, the Federal Government would not need the same tax rates at the higher income brackets (which affect Albertan taxpayers at a disproportionate rate), leaving that potential revenue for the Government of Alberta to take in part or all, easily enough to bolster its rainy day fund during the good times and still enough to account for today's deficits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thenoflyzone
The OP mentioned the years 2007-2018. For a large chunk of those years (2004-2015), Alberta was already debt-free. What happened? 2016, 2017 and 2018 are the years with the lowest transfers from Alberta to Ottawa in that list, and yet Alberta's deficit and debt skyrocketed those years.
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The story of the ant and grasshopper turns out different if the ant had to share much of its surpluses from the summer, leaving it less savings to draw on during the winter.