Yes, It Can Be Done

You can cut taxes, and you can prosper.

The only words I don't like in the piece below are "a record-shattering $3 billion dollars." That's fine if the money's coming from revenue generating operations year to year. Otherwise "surplus" to me means "over-taxed." Bigtime surpluses should be followed by checks from the government with a note attached: Turns out, we didn't need all of your money after all. And yes, we'll have that flat tax coming next time around.

From the National Post:

The superlatives, it turns out, were justified: in his mid-term mini-budget, [Saskatchewan Premier] Mr. Wall unleashed the deepest single personal income tax cut in the prairie province's history, the biggest infrastructure spend, and its largest debt paydown since Saskatchewan discovered red ink. The province's unbudgeted surplus is projected at a record-shattering $3-billion.

"It's a great day to be Premier," Mr. Wall enthused - a statement many provincial leaders would not likely share about now. With the tax-free portion of income tax boosted to $40,0000 for families, more than 80,000 Saskatchewanians immediately, and retroactive to January of this year, can forget paying a dime in provincial income tax, while households earning a just slightly higher $50,000 saw their provincial tax bill cut nearly 60%. A 50% boost in infrastructure spending, to $1.5-billion, will send a "clear signal to industry," a government backgrounder trumpeted, "that Saskatchewan is Ready for Growth..."

Saskatchewan...is projected by the same study to be "the sole province whose economic growth rate in 2008 will exceed that of last year," expected to beat everyone for top GDP gains through 2009.