The first budget of the Progressive Conservative government of Alberta under Premier Jim Prentice is going over like a lead balloon. Actually, make that the Hindenburg. Fifty-nine new tax increases, the biggest deficit in provincial history, and negligible spending cuts. It may be the first pre-election budget in history to offend every conceivable voter demographic. For Colby Cosh, the single most offensive measure is the vandalizing of Alberta’s unique (in Canada) flat income tax. It’s got him thinking, and mourning, about the sad decay of once-great empires – and provinces.