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Last week, we explored some tax reduction options we floated to political parties for consideration in their platforms for the upcoming provincial election.

The ideas were part of a “taxpayer friendly election platform” released by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

We noted a couple examples last week that showed how reducing tax rates can spur economic growth and lead to higher tax revenues for the government.

This week, we’ll explore the second way the government can “afford” to reduce taxes – by spending your tax dollars more efficiently.

First up, let’s look at public education.

Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia all have bureaucrat offices working independently on K-12 curriculum documents. Doesn’t that seem wasteful?

Imagine if there was better cooperation between the provinces. Say, if Saskatchewan produced material for grades K-3, Alberta grades 4-8 and B.C. grades 9-12. The material could then be shared amongst the three, reducing staff overlap at the same time.

Speaking of schools, what about reducing the number of school boards? With one school board managing over 250,000 students in Toronto, does Saskatchewan really need 27 school boards for its 160,000 students?

Another idea we suggested is to look at a regional pilot project whereby a school could be funded directly by the province, completely eliminating the need for a school board all together. After all, independent schools operate without that extra layer of bureaucracy.

One thing is for certain, as enrolment has dropped by over 10 per cent over the past decade, and as K-12 education costs have skyrocketed by over 47 per cent, this is one area that is ripe for a spending review.

In terms of overall government programs, we also suggested the government could save money by injecting some competition into the mix.

For example, when the City of Winnipeg partnered with a private sector firm to pick up garbage for the remaining section where city workers still provided the service, costs went down by 36 per cent. At the same time, complaints went down by 20-25 per cent annually.

In other words, taxpayers received a better service at a lower cost.

The province could explore cost reductions by opening up services such as payroll, building security and park maintenance to competition.

The key though is not just to partner with the private sector, but to encourage existing employees to bid-in for the work as well. As the City of Indianapolis found when it opened up services to competition, many city employees submitted the best bids as they knew exactly where to trim the fat. They just didn’t have the incentive to speak up under the old system.

For services that can’t be tendered, why not change the model to focus on results rather than simply spending for the sake of spending. Many organizations have used a model known as “gain-sharing” to give employees the incentive to reduce costs.

Under gain sharing, when an employee comes up with an idea that saves taxpayers money, he or she would get to share a portion of the savings. For example, if an office decided to downsize its office area from 2,000 square foot down to 1,000 square feet, employees could share in some of the lower rental cost savings.

Of course, they would only share in the savings if their productivity levels were consistent and/or higher than before.

Every political party in Sask should be looking to make the government more efficient, so here’s hoping they efficiently steal a few of these ideas.

Next week, we’ll discuss accountability measures, justice matters and a green environment idea that won’t cost you any green.