Smith, Notley Announce First Pieces of Planned Legislation If Elected Alberta Premier
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With only five days remaining until Alberta votes, the two party leaders in the running for premier on May 29 election day have made announcements about their first acts if elected.
New Democrat Party (NDP) Leader Rachel Notley said at a morning news conference on May 25 that if her party was elected, she would call a summer legislative session to pass Bill 1, an act to cap power bills and auto insurance, freeze tuition, and “accelerate $10/day childcare.”
According to Notley, Bill 1 “will save the vast majority of Albertans nearly $1,000.”
The NDP leader said power prices are expected to spike this summer, pledging the NDP will cap them, previously promising in the campaign to do so for a three-month period. Notley said her government, if elected, would also “launch an investigation into electricity prices to improve competitiveness, reliability and affordability.”
Notley also said Bill 1 would freeze car insurance premiums, “re-index and raise benefits for seniors,” and freeze tuition.
She said the NDP would offer a kids activity tax credit, promised to be up to $500 per child, so “kids can pursue the sports, music, dance and other extracurricular activities that help them to grow and learn and enjoy life. This is a real investment in long term affordability so that Albertans will see savings permanently on an ongoing basis.”
Bill 2, said Notley, would be to “repeal the job-killing Sovereignty Act and eliminate small business tax,” and Bill 3 would “legislate to protect your [Canada Pension Plan].”
Notley has also announced that an NDP government will remove the tax on small business, but raise the corporate income tax rate from 8 to 11 percent, an almost 38 percent hike.
Taxpayer Protection
United Conservative Party (UCP) Leader Danielle Smith announced at a news conference on May 24 that a reelected UCP government’s first bill would be the Taxpayer Protection Amendment, which the party said would prevent future governments from raising personal and corporate income taxes without a referendum.
Smith said some of the promised measures she has pledged during her campaign, such as the creation of an 8 percent tax bracket, do not require legislation or a referendum. “The way we’re going to structure this Act is that we can always reduce tax rates. And we don’t need to have a referendum for that,” she said.
The UCP leader said the new tax rate will reduce income taxes for households below a $60,000 annual income by 20 percent. “For those above 60,000, it will deliver a $760 tax break for an individual and $1,520 per family.”
“The corporate tax right now is 8 percent. And when we pass this legislation, that would be sending a message to the business community that it will stay that way, and the only way it would change is if the government put it to a referendum of the people,” said Smith.
The UCP leader said economists have talked about the “whipsaw” that the corporate sector is experiencing from having the corporate tax rate brought up to 12 percent by the NDP during their term beginning in 2015, then the UCP dropping it back down to 8 percent on reelection in 2019. “Now Ms. Notley is threatening to bring it up again to 11 percent which is a 38 percent increase,” said Smith. She said the province cannot afford that move.
“We have had the Alberta Chamber of Commerce say that this creates business uncertainty. We’ve had the Alberta Enterprise Group say so, we’ve had economists like Jack Mintz and others, and we’ve even had a union, CLAC [Christian Labour Association of Canada], that has said that it would create job losses and instability,” said the UCP leader.
In a press release on May 23, the Alberta Enterprise Group, an advocacy group of businesses that states it collectively employs more than 150,000 people, said that tax hikes would hurt the province.
“We are very worried that a 37.5% increase in the provincial income tax rate may cost Alberta both investment and jobs across the whole economy with a negative impact on the petrochemical and clean-tech industries in particular. Global capital makes decisions based on global comparisons. The proposed tax increase does not make Alberta competitive with the US gulf coast and that is who Alberta competes with for these prosperity creating projects,” said the group.
Meanwhile, Todd Hirsch, a former ATB chief economist, endorsed the NDP’s plan, including the corporate tax hike, stating it is “an economic plan that works for everyone.”
“It’s a plan that will give a hand up to those who need it so they can contribute to and invest in our province,” he said on May 16.
