October 6 - So it Begins - The Alberta Teacher Strike

[RandyHolt]

Originally Posted by Wolven

Even if we set Corporate taxes to 11% they would still be the lowest in the country and it would result in a few billion in additional revenue.

We should raise the corporate tax rate to 10-11%, but this would likely only bring in about an extra billion per year. Corporate taxes collected total 8 Billion in the most recent year, which also includes all the small business taxes whose rate won't change. Businesses also allocated more income to Alberta since our rate is lower, which they would stop doing if it was equal to other provinces.

Bumping the personal tax rates would help more, but it needs to start at the 12% rate and probably go up 1% or so for each one. Ideally you would keep the total top tax rate in Alberta at 49% (currently 48%). You'd be surprised how many people in other provinces go way out of their way to avoid a 50% plus rate. It's a mental block for a lot of people, so avoiding this by staying at 49% is likely best to collect the most amount of taxes.

But to fund everything in Alberta, you need a PST. If we don't want to be wildly reliant on Oil revenues, then you have to admit our province isn't special and we need a PST like every other province. It can be 5% which would still be the lowest in Canada, but it's necessary to fund Health and Education to the level they should be funded at.

[woob]

This is the conundrum Nenshi faces if he wins. I'm sure he recognizes Alberta can no longer be without a PST, but he'll get roasted for implementing one. So we get another four-year blip in the forever-conservative province, and any work he's done to improve things will get undone—or worse—when Alberta voters get mad and vote conservative again.

[Wolven]

Honestly, I think the provincial government would have more than enough money to fund all of the desired services if they eliminated the monstrous list of wasted money, grifts, and lost investment in Alberta that the UCP causes regularly.

Adjusting the corporate tax would likely be enough to close the gap, but I think taxing the richest brackets is also a solid move to boost revenue. I would make a new bracket that is higher than the top one (7 figures) and give it an even bigger tax rate.

Those things should be enough to avoid a PST and still fund services way beyond their current levels.