On 28 February 2023, the Danielle Smith government tabled Alberta’s 2023-2024 budget. Projecting a $2.4 billion surplus for the coming fiscal year, the budget announced some spending increases; but many are effectively cuts when one accounts for both inflation and population growth.
Here are 10 things to know:
The budget itself contains projections pertaining to inflation and population change. In the upcoming fiscal year, the budget projects 3.3% inflation (using the Consumer Price Index) and a 2.9% population increase. When you add those figures together, you get 6.2%. That means any increase in nominal spending needs to be at least 6.2% in order to keep up with current spending.
Operating expenses in general will see an effective cut of 3.2%. For the
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