| A dramatic fall in oil prices, predicted to reduce provincial government resource revenues in Alberta by $7 billion — a drop of at least 16 per cent — has generated intense speculation regarding public expenditure cuts, tax changes and, of course, the introduction of a general sales tax.
This type of precipitous price drop has happened before. And as before, the calls inevitably arise that more resource revenues should be saved in the Heritage Fund and used to stabilize government revenues during these negative commodity price shocks. But the real culprit is the Alberta government's tendency to use an upturn in resource prices to enrich spending rather than build up a sovereign wealth fund...............................................Full Article: Source
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