Alberta Heritage Trust Fund ripped of by 370 Billions of dollars.

The Conservatives have been drawing down the Heritage Trust fund to limit it to 4% appreciation. The moneys taken from the fund have been added to the provincial General Revenues and spent out of this slush fund.

This, coupled with the downloading of expenses to the cities and towns and allowing the cities to charge whatever they want for power, means Alberta is the highest taxed state in North America if not the world!

balance73
1:43 PM on June 19, 2010

Here's what might have been...

$97.9 billion- If the government had allowed the Heritage Fund to reinvest its profits, rather than using them to cut the deficit, pay off its debt and otherwise help with general government expenses

$57.2 billion- If the government had diverted a mere 1% of revenue to the fund starting in 1987, and had allowed profits to be reinvested

$164.5 billion - If the government had never taken a penny from the fund, and had continued to seed it with 30% of resource revenues from 1982 onward

$55.6 billion - If the government had kept adding 15% of resource revenues per year after 1987

$65.8 billion - If the government had treated the Heritage Fund like an endowment, letting the fund reinvest its profits and drawing out a fixed amount every year-say 4.5% of assets-and topping up the fund to account for inflation (as it eventually started to do in 2005), with no further royalty contributions after 1987 (figures as of march 2008 - Globe and Mail)