There's a lot not to like in this year's provincial budget, but the sheer magnitude of it is jaw-dropping.

Budget 2005 shows that the government collected astronomical revenues in 2004-05, and managed to spend every single cent. Revenues exceeded last year's budget forecast by more than a billion dollars, but none of that comes back to taxpayers in the form tax relief, and only $179 million went to permanent debt reduction.

So where did all this unforeseen money go To program spending, of course. The province spent $334 million more than they budgeted last year, making 2004 the most expensive year for taxpayers in our province's history. To put that into perspective, $334 million would cut school taxes on property in half!

While seemingly incapable of giving taxpayers a break, this government is nothing short of visionary when it comes to spending our money. Budget 2005 forecasts more of the same.

The province will spend more money this year than ever before, which is a remarkable feat given that expenditures have been ramping up steadily since Premier Calvert took over in 2001. Revenues are forecast to grow by 6.3 per cent this year, thanks to high oil, gas, potash prices and that PST increase last year. Not to be outdone on the other side of the ledger, spending is set to increase rise an even higher 6.8 per cent!

So we have a budget with massive spending and revenue increases and no tax relief whatsoever, at least we'll be in the black this year, right Think again. Government debt is forecast to grow by more than $100 million this year, and it will continue to grow in the foreseeable future. All told, government debt is expected to grow by $900 million over the next five years.

This budget does not bode well for taxpayers. Soaring revenues presented a unique opportunity to provide tax relief. They could have chosen to accept a Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) recommendation to increase the basic personal exemption to $15,000, thereby removing thousands of low-income earners from the tax rolls all together.

Instead of growing department budgets, increasing the size of civil service and hiring more public relations people the government could have made an aggressive move toward reducing the school tax burden on farm land. Think of what we could do with the money that is going toward establishing two new government departments - First Nations and Métis Relations and Rural Development. For this government, there is no problem that can't be solved by hiring more government staff.

What is the opportunity cost of pouring more money into a failing health care system with no measurable improvements in service or health outcomes Budget 2005 hikes spending on health care by seven per cent or $192 million. At $2.9 billion, the health budget swallows up 44 per cent of the provincial budget, and there is no end in sight to the spending demands. If nothing changes, more than half our tax dollars will be going to health care in just a few short years. This budget was an opportunity to announce a change in the way we deliver health care - to go from being the birthplace of rusted and busted medicare to the birthplace of effective and sustainable health care.

The province could have accepted a CTF recommendation to open up health care to competition, and allow people to pay for health services the current system can't provide.

Budgets are all about choices. What's most important is not the litany of spending choices the government made on our behalf, but the things this budget doesn't do. It doesn't provide tax relief, debt reduction or health reform. It is a big, fat, obnoxious budget - exactly what Saskatchewan doesn't need.