by Jeff Burgar

Politicians rarely enjoy saying no to anything. We say rarely, because, if one looks hard enough, one will find something foolish enough to turn that statement upside down.

For example, “Sir, are you in favour of passing out $5,000 to each and every family in your riding?”

Ummm, well, actually, gosh, “Yes I am, but only when we can afford it. So today, no.”

But, we aren’t sure if at least a few councillors at the M.D. of Lesser Slave River a few weeks ago enjoyed saying no to giving tax relief to one of Canada’s largest oil companies.

Canadian Natural Resources Limited, employing over 7,000 people worldwide, based in Calgary, and one of Canada’s largest oil companies, is looking to cut costs. CNRL has chosen to roll back wages to employees instead of layoffs. Contractors are being pushed against the wall. Like just about every other company in the oilpatch, every expense is examined and squeezed. Property taxes are one of those expenses.

So it was that managers showed up at the M.D. to ask for a break. Councillors were sympathetic.

But they didn’t budge!

One councillor more or less said, “Hey, we didn’t ask for more when oil was $100 a barrel did we?”

In reality, that isn’t quite true. Generally, the way property taxes work out, when the assets go up in value, more tax has to be paid.

For example, that workshop or nice house on the acreage is built at a certain cost. A few years later, the economy is booming. A few other homes change hands at high prices. All things being usual, our example house will be hit with a big tax bill. Because, my friends, very rarely, do governments reduce their spending when money rolls in when times are good. They do indeed find ways to squirrel it away, or out and out spend it on new trucks, expanded offices, roads, or you name it.

CNRL says they will be back later this year when new budgets start being talked about.

This is how it should work. It took some High Prairie business owners looking at their tax bills to wake up to the fact they were paying the highest taxes in Alberta. Industry in Alberta is beginning to think the same way. Pulp mills, pipelines, oil leases and more don’t get to vote. But the people working on them do.

It takes time to get the message out, then more time to drill it into the heads of people who some days seem more interested in jobs for their friends, travel allowances, or even sky palaces, than running good government.

Now, Lesser Slave River was quick to point out, they have “sharp pencils”. There are not any flies on them when it comes to running a tight ship and not wasting money.

But, in the same manner our example house above saw their taxes run up, if times stay tough in the oilpatch, then values and thus taxes should start working their way down. CNRL, and others, should get the tax break they want. It just takes a long, long time.

In the meantime, keeping pressure on government to be efficient doesn’t hurt one little bit.