With the spring legislative session underway there's a lot of hot air blowing around the provincial capital. As has been the case for more than a century, there will be overblown rhetoric, deceptive and ambiguous answers from politicians and a healthy dose political treachery.

For a variety of political reasons, politicians often ignore the tough issues. The government may want to delay good news programs until just before an election, and push bad news behind an election. For opposition parties, there is a big incentive to avoid offending virtually everyone in order to knock the government out of power.

Here's a question you definitely won't hear during question period this spring: "Mr. Speaker: Last year, Saskatchewan tax payers spent $70 million to prop up the Meadow Lake Pulp Mill,only to learn the mill had filed for protection from its creditors -- who happen to be the taxpayers of Saskatchewan. Mr. Speaker, when will the government stop pouring hard-earned tax dollars into a mill that has never been, and never will be profitable "

The political experts all agree the Meadow Lake seat is up for grabs, and success or failure there may determine who holds the reins of power after the next election. The accepted wisdom is that any party who wants to stop pouring money into the mill would not be very popular in Meadow Lake.

Common sense falls victim to political interests.

This is unfortunate because the Meadow Lake Pulp Mill is the biggest financial disaster in government history. The $70 million put into it just last year could have cut school taxes by more than 10 per cent for all property classes. That money could have retired some government debt which, until recently, was growing fast. The mill is dead in the water, and the government should stop throwing good money after bad.

Here's another question that should be asked: "Mr. Speaker: For the past six months Saskatchewan has seen job losses in a time when Saskatchewan should be booming. Last year, the government's own business tax review committee found that, despite government assertions to the contrary, Saskatchewan's business tax regime is the least competitive in Canada. Mr. Speaker, when will the government implement business tax reforms in order to attract new investment in the province "

The bottom line is that businesses don't pay taxes, people do. It's an old cliché but it needs to repeated as often as possible. High taxes on businesses are simply passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, to employees in lower wages, and to investors in lower returns. The biggest consequence of high business taxes are job losses - and we've been witnessing that for years. The numbers are in. Profits are up, but businesses are not reinvesting those profits in Saskatchewan and that needs to be turned around.

The government has been talking the talk on business taxes, but taxpayers deserve to know when action will be taken. The government needs to dramatically cut business taxes now, not just before the next election, not next year. It will take time for new capital investment in Saskatchewan to take hold and we can't afford to lose more business to our more competitive neighbours.

The tough questions are rarely asked by politicians - especially when an election is just around the corner. But it doesn't have to be this way. Let your politician know you want the tough questions asked and action taken. To access contact information for your MLA check www.taxpayer.com or call the Canadian Taxpayers Federation office at 1-800-565-1911.