Post-secondary education

EDMONTON—The Alberta Government’s 2015-16 budget was released today and brought in some modest changes to our revenue system that will increase the tax load on average Albertans without touching the huge tax benefits for wealthy individuals and corporations.

“Alberta could have fixed our unfair tax system, which still leaves us $10.6 billion lower in tax revenue than the second-lowest tax jurisdiction in Canada,” said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “Instead, Alberta’s families will feel the impact of larger class sizes, fewer students enrolling in post-secondary education, seniors losing their drug benefits, and cities losing much-needed infrastructure funds.”

Just a few days ago we launched a new campaign called "Post-Secondary Education is the Answer" to call for increased government investment in post-secondary education (PSE). PSE can provide the answers to many of the important questions our society is facing today, like how we improve our health care and education systems, how we diversify and strengthen our economy, and how we deal with the growing environmental challenges our province faces. Please attend one of these meetings to hear about the public advocacy campaign and to share your ideas about the importance of post-secondary education. These meetings will all take place from 12:00 PM (noon) to 1:30 PM. Lunch will be provided.

Public Interest Alberta in partnership with undergraduate students, graduate students, staff unions, and faculty associations from across the province is launching a public advocacy campaign called “Post-Secondary Education is the Answer” to mobilize the public to speak out for greater investments in post-secondary education (PSE).

We recently had the below video commissioned to commemorate our 10th anniversary advocating for the public interest in Alberta. Please share it widely to bring greater awareness to what we do and the issues we advocate for. The video was made by Don Bouzek, and the music is by Maria Dunn. [VIDEO]

We have a new handout for our Alberta Could campaign! Check out the media section of our "Alberta Could" website, where you can download the handout and check out other materials from the campaign for fair taxation in Alberta.

"Albertans pay the lowest taxes in Canada — or at least some of us do — according to a new study by Public Interest Alberta, which argues for changes to the flat tax regime in the province. The lobby group states that a graduated tax system in Alberta could raise $2 billion more in revenue while maintaining the best rates in the nation."

Public Interest Alberta's Executive Director Bill Moore-Kilgannon says a progressive income tax increase on the top 6 percent of wage earners, would bring in an additional $1 billion dollars of revenue per year. Added to that he says, if the corporate tax rate was also raised by 2 percent to the same 12% level as Saskatchewan, that would allow the province to pay for another a billion dollars in social programs.

"Public Interest Alberta recently began a year-long campaign called 'Alberta Could' in order to talk with Albertans about improvements that could be made in the province if a progressive tax rate was reintroduced. 'In a lot of people’s minds, they think that Alberta’s flat tax equals Alberta’s low taxes,' says PIA’s executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon. 'But they don’t realize that it’s actually low- and middle-income earners who are paying a higher percentage of the total amount we would pay in taxes than if we had a progressive tax system.'"

Our Executive Director Bill Moore-Kilgannon was recently on Alberta Primetime debating our new "Alberta Could…" campaign with a representative of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation. The campaign advocates for a progressive income tax and fair corporate taxes in Alberta to invest in better public services.

New advocacy campaign shows Alberta Could invest in public services with a progressive income tax and increased corporate tax