The West's reputation for fiscal conservatism has made it the envy of the country. The ordering principle can be summed up this way: taxes rise in the east and set in the west.

As a western province, Manitoba made its mark with a few of its own has its own political achievements. Passage of the province's model Balanced Budget Law was an idea spawned in the west by groups like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Even the modest tax cuts we enjoy today have the stamp of western approval.

The advantage of occupying the geographic space in the middle of Canada is that you get to pick and chose the best qualities from each end of the country. Up until a short while ago, it seemed that Manitoba was willing to compete with the other western provinces.

It didn't matter that the NDP were in power. They could govern like Prime Minister Tony Blair in Great Britain and blaze a new trail - something like "free enterprise with a human face." Like Blair, social institutions would be reformed with a customer or consumer orientation. Fossilized crown corporations would be sold off to priorize funding for front-line social services.

As it turns out, the NDP have changed course, directing the nose of the province to the east. Manitoba's finances are increasingly looking like an Atlantic Province.

Three years ago, Manitoba was smack in the middle of interprovincial personal income tax comparisons. Not so today.

A survey from the 2002 BC provincial budget ranks Manitoba with the third highest personal income taxes on incomes ranging from $40,000 to $100,000. Only taxpayers in Newfoundland and Quebec are worse off.

Manitoba's marginal personal income tax rate of 46.4% is the highest among the western provinces and Ontario.

Only the Finance Ministers from Manitoba and the Atlantic Provinces have chosen not to index tax brackets and credits to inflation. Bracket Creep continues to eat away at our disposable incomes.

To ease the pain of the income tax bite, a certain amount of your income is considered tax-free. If you live in Alberta, your first $12,900 Basic Personal Exemption (BPE) and Spousal Exemption (SE) is tax free.

In Manitoba, the province allows only a $7,412 BPE and a lousy $6,294 SE. Compared to the rest of the country, Manitoba is tied with Newfoundland for the third lowest BPE and the fourth lowest Spousal Exemption.

The defenders of Manitoba's tax structure regularly point out that the BC or Alberta tax advantage is blunted by a unique health tax. They fail to mention that Manitoba charges a payroll tax on business that no other province in the West collects.

The comparisons to the east don't stop here. Like the Atlantic Provinces, Manitoba is heavily dependent on the rest of the country for equalization payments. Over $1 billion or 18% of the Manitoba budget depends on the wealth created by the caregiver provinces like Ontario and Alberta.

Newcomers to Winnipeg will be forgiven for confusing our property taxes with Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.

The property tax burden has given new life to the bedroom communities that are welcoming Winnipeg tax refugees. It's a process that distinguishes Winnipeg from the rest of the country. While other urban centres are booming, Winnipeg's population growth has barely budged.

If only Manitoba had the taxes of the west we might succeed in mimicking the population growth of the east. Just connect the dots. Lower taxes, more people, more commerce, more taxpayers, less per capita taxes.