Alberta is tax-adverse, to put it mildly. Often, from an outside perspective, it looks very much like a child refusing to eat their vegetables.
Most people turn up their noses at the idea that Alberta, like every other province in the country, should have a provincial sales tax.
But it’s time to open up, and take a big bite of broccoli. It’s for our own good.
A study out of the University of Calgary’s school of public policy, says that it’s time to have a serious discussion about the revenue the province is missing out on.
A five per cent sales tax could generate $5 billion for the province, according to the study, and that would still put Alberta’s sales tax as the lowest in the country.
The report makes it clear that “a provincial sales tax would enable the Alberta government to get off the royalty roller-coaster.”
The current plan to balance the budget in Alberta relies heavily on oil and gas funds, as it has for many years.
Polls in Alberta have repeatedly shown that the sales tax is the last thing Albertans want, but we have come to a point where reality needs to be faced.
Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) has stated that Alberta and Saskatchewan have taken the biggest hit with the drop of US imports.
The world-wide view of the oil and gas sector is becoming more and more unfavorable, despite efforts by the Alberta government to combat negative misinformation spreading.
Relying on the funds from an industry in decline seems foolhardy, at best.
Jack Mintz, the President’s Fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, has been lobbying for a sales tax, writing papers and giving press conferences on the topic for years.
He points out that an HST—or harmonized sales tax—would allow Albertans to slow the rise in personal and property taxes.
"If you took that and cut personal and corporate income taxes, I can tell you that would create a huge advantage for Alberta, as an economy," he told the CBC.
If Alberta wants to balance the books, cuts to services, and personal tax increases are not the only, or the best, option.
It’s time to take a good long look at some long-held beliefs in this province.
It’s time to open up, say “ahhh”, and do what’s good for the province, even if we don’t like it.
