Alberta's Tax Shift: From Low to Moderate

0:00It's April 7. This has been Cooper News today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. Back in the 1990s, Ralph Klein turned Alberta around with deep-spending cuts and a flat 10% income tax that created the so-called Alberta Advantage. He slashed government costs by 20% in just two years, acts programs, cut civil service jobs, and dropped corporate taxes too. No provincial sales tax and business-friendly rules made the province a magnet for jobs and growth. Fast forward more than 30 years, and that edge is fading fast. Alberta ditched the flat tax in 2015, hiking rates for middle and high earners. Now fuel taxes are up from 9 cents to 13 cents per liter, insurance premiums climbed, and property taxes jumped in recent budgets. Spending has exploded too, especially since the NDP era and COVID, pushing expenses as a share of GDP from 12.8% in 20. 14 to 17.1% by 2027.

1:02Folks are noticing the squeeze. Experts like those at the Frazier Institute say the tax gap with places like British Columbia or Saskatchewan has shrunk by half for families earning. $125,000 down from over $3,000 saved in 2014 to about 1,800 now. High earners feel at worst, with Alberta's top rate now higher than Saskatchewans when mixing federal and provincial taxes. Comparisons to U.S. oil states like Texas or Wyoming, paint and even starker picture. Alberta's no longer the lowest tax spot in North America. Premier Daniel Smith's latest budget shows a $9.4 billion deficit from $6 billion in extra spending, blamed partly on immigration, and soft oil prices. She's cut taxes for lower earners under $60,000, but hiked education property taxes, reversing clients' cuts. While Alberta still boasts lower overall taxes than most Canadian provinces, the old mantra of taxes only going down feels distant amid rising cost.

2:02In volatile royalties, leaders talk small government, but the numbers show a shift that's testing that promise.