From the Wildrose, an interesting idea

Alberta's Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith has offered what on the surface sounds like a good idea. Her party is proposing the province transfer 10 per cent of all its taxes—personal and corporate income taxes, education tax, tobacco tax and fuel tax—and 10 per cent of any budget surplus, to municipalities to spend as they see fit. In the 2015-16 budget year, Smith says, municipalities would share in nearly $2-billion, $500-million more than they are currently getting.

As cities assume increasingly greater importance relative to  provinces, the debate over revenue-sharing intensifies. With limited taxing powers relative to the senior levels of government, cities must beg their provincial masters for grants for major projects. Consequently, they have long sought stable sources of revenue.

Smith claims the Wildrose plan, termed the Community Infrastructure Transfer, will provide more stable funding than the grant system and precludes municipalities fighting for new taxing powers. The plan will "give municipalities the right to choose their own priorities, with no strings attached, eliminating needless layers of bureaucracy and a patchwork of funding programs."

The Wildrose proposal was no doubt motivated by the party's strong opposition to new taxes at a time when Alberta's cities are seeking just that. The City of Calgary, for example, is looking at over two dozen ways of raising revenues and hopes to adopt some of them if it can negotiate a city charter with the province.

The Community Infrastructure Transfer concept seems a worthy contender for revenue sharing. It at least offers the government and the municipalities a yardstick for their negotiations.

gives municipalities the freedom to choose their own priorities, with no strings attached, eliminating needless layers of bureaucracy and a patchwork of funding programs that play to the whims of the PC MLAs in the Legislature - See more at: http://www.wildrose.ca/press-releases/just-the-facts-wildroses-plan-for-municipalities/#sthash.

Wildrose’s 10-10 plan gives municipalities the freedom to choose their own priorities, with no strings attached, eliminating needless layers of bureaucracy and a patchwork of funding programs that play to the whims of the PC MLAs in the Legislature. - See more at: http://www.wildrose.ca/press-releases/just-the-facts-wildroses-plan-for-