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Significant fraserinstitute.org ii"/"Rae Days in Alberta: The Notley Government at Two Years tax increases include those to the personal income tax and the corporate income tax, as well as a broadening of the province's carbon levy, which is scheduled to see further increases in the future. [...] The province faced a large budget deficit along with the prospect of returning to "net debt" status (a situation in which total debts exceed financial assets) for the first time since the turn of the century. [...] This deficit elimination and falling debt burden in the following years created fiscal room for later tax reform and reduction, which in turn laid the foundation for the relative prosperity the province enjoyed for the next two decades. [...] A comparison of the spending trajectories in the two jurisdictions provides the first and most striking similarity between Premier Notley's government and that of Premier Rae. [...] Table 1 illustrates the similarity between the Notley and Rae govern- ments by providing a selection (not comprehensive) of some of the most important tax increases implemented by the two governments.5 Clearly, in the face of large budget deficits the Notley government has followed the Rae government's lead by focusing on tax rate increases instead of spending reductions early in its tenure.