Time to spill some beans...

Or truths as it were.

Alberta is in financial crisis. Deep financial crisis. Several economists and pundits are calling for a provincial sales tax.

I’m going to explain why that would be unwise.

The reason Alberta doesn’t have a sales tax is because past governments relied upon 40% oil royalty rates set up by Lougheed. However, Lougheed also set up the Alberta Heritage Trust Fund. He did not overly rely upon royalties to fund programs. That changed when he retired.

Since then, successive cuts to royalties and refusal to save for a rainy day have left the Heritage Trust Fund under funded and created dependence upon royalty revenue to fund provincial services and programs by lowering personal & corporate tax rates since Klein was in office.

Which is why ROC provinces have been FORCED to adopt PST. To keep head offices, ROC provincial/territorial govts have been forced to lower their personal & corporate tax rates and transfer the tax burden to middle and lower incomes through a PST to maintain service levels.

The Alberta Klein government (populated with far right ideologues) engineered and shaped the national tax structure from Alberta. These far right conservatives are proto fascist Dominionists and policy architects with a strategic approach and long game plan.

As Alberta lowered its tax rates, all other provinces were forced to as well because they didn’t want all businesses to relocate to Alberta. Albertans avoided a PST by topping up revenues with royalties that began at 40%, but incrementally reduced to 2% or lower.

I believe Kenny has waived some royalties altogether to aid the oil industry during the pandemic.

This has been the long game plan to transfer wealth to shareholders, the wealthy and shift the tax burden to the public and it has worked!

Canadian citizens pay far more provincial taxes through personal taxes & PST, than they did 40 years ago. Corporations and the wealthy pay much much less in personal and corporate taxes than they did 40 years ago.

The tax burden has successfully been transferred to those with the least means to pay for it. Essentially subsidizing the wealthy and corporate taxpayers who get to keep more money for themselves.

Incrementalism is the stealthy method of THE GREAT TRANSFER OF WEALTH (TGTW).

TGTW has been orchestrated by Dominionists and Paleolibertarians. This transfer of wealth hasn’t been limited to Canada. It’s been implemented globally. Ireland was a base that attracted head offices of major international corporations because of its low corporate taxes.

Many other democratic nations were forced to reduce corporate taxes to retain corporations willing to pick up & relocate their head offices. All of this has been accomplished in Canada from Alberta using policies that impacted the entire nation.

I have yet to see evidence that Chrétien & Martin liberals were complicit, but if I can figure this out as a stay at home mom, there is no doubt in my mind other policy wonks did, which doesn’t reflect well on Chrétien and Martin’s reputation or adherence to humanist liberalism.

So helpful Canadians can stop promoting a PST that detracts from the UCP agenda.

At the moment Alberta has autocratic, proto fascist, extremist, far right ideologues in charge of the public purse. We don’t need a PST, Alberta needs a democratic government.

Adopting a PST in Alberta has NEVER been the ultimate goal of the far right. The goal has been to shift the majority of the tax burden onto the average Canadian and away from the wealthy and corporate base. If they could, UCP would abolish provincial taxes altogether.

Much effort has been made to propagate the belief that Alberta doesn’t require a PST and it makes Alberta “better” & “freer” by rejecting it. Thus, there is limited support for a PST. It’s counter to the Alberta “brand” and a “free market.” UCP wants an economy like Louisiana.

What was done over 40 years in AB were incremental changes to REDUCE the royalty rate. Paired with an incremental INCREASE in reliance on royalties for provincial revenues, while implementing incremental DECREASES in taxes for the rich and corporations & programs & services.

While the cost of services grew with inflation, and Alberta’s population grew in size exponentially, reduction in revenues forced incremental reductions in overall amount of services & funding for each program or service. Often referenced as “efficiencies” and “cost savings.”

Since royalties have been reduced to extremely low amounts, there currently is not enough to offer universal programming without a PST.

But the electorate won’t except a PST. Alberta’s been inundated with anti-tax rhetoric for 40 years from conservatives in Fraser Institute.

Another alternative, besides raising taxes, is to eliminate universal programs or more severely underfund them. But, they’ve been severely underfunded for about 20 years already. Health, education, and social supports have had minimal investment that have harmed Albertans.

This is the phenomenon that low income recipients reference when they say the poor have been left out of federal COVid benefits. With a reduction in corporate revenue, brought on by tax breaks & cuts, public coffers are insufficient to maintain all appropriate level of services.

It took 40 years, but Alberta conservative politicians essentially destroyed the tax system that funds public programming and services across Canada. In Alberta, in every other province, and federally. And they’ve done it from the power base of Alberta.

Remember, Harper the “Albertan” Prime Minister, also cut GST and reduced the federal tax burden on corporations.

Alberta UCP are in the final stages of removing universal public programming altogether. They are NOT looking to preserve the existence of universal programs.

UCP do NOT believe in providing public funds for citizens who require financial support, or need healthcare or to access education.

Quite the opposite! What the ROC fails to realize & comprehend is that Alberta imposing privatization will impact EVERY OTHER PROVINCE.

Privatization will increase pressure on every other province and territory.

UCP reduced the corporate tax rate to 8% but a 2018 draft plan mentions a 6% ultimate goal. Within the next year, the other conservative premieres will move to reduce the tax burden on corporations.

Those premieres will tell you it’s because of Covid & an economic depression. But it’s not. This was all planned 40 years ago. Covid just gave them a convenient cover story. If CPC is elected they will do the same federally.

PART 1

PART 2 coming soon.