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This deal just keeps getting worse

The more we learn about the largest tax increase in Alberta’s history, the worse the news gets.

 

The more we learn about the largest tax increase in Alberta’s history, the worse the news gets.

While the Notley Carbon Tax will have no discernable effect on climate, it will pump hundreds of millions of dollars out of our province even as Alberta weathers a once-in-a-generation recession.

In fact, according to a recent report from the non-partisan Library of Parliament, the federal Liberal government stands to instantly become one of the primary beneficiaries of this tax-and-spend scheme.

The devil is in the details. About one year ago, the Canada Revenue Agency announced that any and all carbon taxes collected across Canada would be subject to GST. And we’re not talking pocket change, folks.

Having calculated the cost to Alberta and BC, the two provinces where carbon taxes are already in place, the Library of Parliament expects the extra GST alone will cost taxpayers $130 million in 2017 and $150 million in 2018.

The flood of cash leaving Alberta will only rise in subsequent years, as the Notley and Trudeau governments work to raise Alberta’s carbon tax from $10/tonne to $50/tonne.

This non-partisan report effectively eviscerates both the Prime Minister’s claims that the carbon tax is revenue-neutral, and the Premier’s claim that all of the money collected would stay in Alberta.

This is not the first time the NDP have been caught fibbing about her carbon tax. The government’s claim that it would be revenue-neutral crumbled even before the ink was dry. Finance Minister Joe Ceci was also caught in the act, earlier this month, ignoring expenses under the carbon tax plan when reporting his government’s spending increases.

The NDP also refused to release a comprehensive economic analysis of the plan, while internal government documents showed a projected 20 per cent rise in electricity prices for Alberta’s industries, and significant blow to Alberta’s GDP impacting thousands of jobs.

So, with Ottawa poised to collect hundreds of millions off Notley’s Carbon Tax, why isn’t the Premier standing up for Albertans?

Could it be, perhaps, because it won’t cost her a dime?

That’s right, while your family and your business get stuck with the additional tax bill, Alberta’s government is largely exempt from paying GST, as are its numerous boards and agencies.

Alberta Treasury Branches doesn’t pay GST. The Alberta Foundation for the Arts doesn’t pay GST. The Teacher’s Retirement Fund doesn’t pay GST. The government of Alberta’s propaganda wing, better known as the Public Affairs Bureau, doesn’t pay GST. The Office of the Premier doesn’t pay GST.

Like all NDP tax-and-spend policies, the Notley Carbon Tax is designed to maximize the benefits for government at your expense. They play and you pay.

It’s a bad deal, and it will only keep get worse.

For more information, contact:

Constituency Office

117 Centre St. Sundre, AB T0M 1X0

Phone 403-638-5029

Twitter: @JasonNixonAB

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jason.j.nixon?fref=ts

E-mail: rimbey.rockymountainhouse.sundre@assembly.ab.ca