As a part of the Alberta government’s economic recovery plan, the province’s corporate tax rate is being cut by two percent, from 10 percent to 8 percent, as of July 1. Premier Kenney justified the move as a way to increase economic activity and create jobs, neither of which have been proven effects of such a change.
“The corporate tax cut is a massive giveaway to the wealthy, who need it the least,” said Joel French, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “The government announces this at a time when they’re cutting our public services to the bone; people are already struggling. We know reducing their own revenue sources will be used as an excuse later on to cut pubic services even further.”
The change comes at a time when the province’s revenue system is already raising far too little revenue, according to the government’s own budget documents, which show that the tax system of any other province in the country would raise between $14.4 and $25.5 billion per year in additional revenue.
“It is so glaringly obvious that Alberta needs to change its tax system to raise significantly more revenue,” said French. “This corporate tax giveaway moves us in the opposite direction. That revenue is needed to fund the public services that Albertans want and value. One clear lesson we’ve learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that our public services are there for us when we need them. Those services need to be strengthened, not cut.”
