The Alberta New Democratic Party under the leadership of Rachel Notley was in power in that province from 2015 to 2019 and brought about some increased taxes. Social media posts sharing campaign messages from the United Conservative Party of Alberta claim the provincial NDP implemented 97 tax increases the last time they were in government. This is false. The Alberta New Democrats increased personal income and corporate income taxes in 2015, as well as other taxes, fees and fines during their tenure, but they did not implement 97 tax increases.
The UCP and other social media users have about the Alberta NDP’s record while they were in government with the claim that taxes were increased 97 times. One social media user they had asked their local member of the legislature for a breakdown of how the UCP came up with the number of tax increases and the response said 79 were increases to fees and fines. At the time of publication, one tweet from the UCP including the claim about the taxes had more than 88,000 views and 487 retweets.
Rating: False
The taxation sections from the Alberta provincial budgets under the NDP from , , and show about 10 increases to taxes. There was an increase to personal income and corporate income tax in the first year the New Democrats were in power in Alberta. also increased that year. Additionally, insurance premiums tax rates went up.
, as was required by the federal government, and it increased the next year.
In 2016, taxes were brought in under the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation for large emitters, which also increased the following year. It was later transformed into the Carbon Competitiveness Incentive Regulation.
The UCP did not respond to several requests to breakdown the 97 tax increases.
It doesn’t add up
Trevor Tombe, an economist at the University of Calgary and fellow at the university's School of Public Policy, said despite there only being one increase to the personal income tax it is likely that the United Conservative Party of Alberta counted it for each tax bracket separately.
“(It’s) eight increases to the personal income taxes because they are counting every single tax bracket as a separate increase even though the changes the NDP enacted in budget 2015 was one tax increase,” Tombe said in an interview.
Tombe added that some of the increases being attributed to the NDP may be holdovers from the previous Progressive Conservative government.
Some of the tax changes in 2015 were introduced under former premier Jim Prentice’s Progressive Conservative government in a . That budget never passed because the party was defeated in a provincial election by the New Democrats. A few increases included in the Tory’s March budget were regulatory changes that came into effect immediately and others remained in the NDP budget released a few months later in October.
“To attribute those to the NDP is a little misleading,” he said. “It technically was the NDP because the PC budget was never passed, but it was the NDP bringing back what was already put forward by the other government."
Fines and fees are not taxes
The UCP does not explain the 97 tax increases within its social media posts, but the number is included in multiple party and . One social media user posted that they asked their local member of the legislature for an explanation and they with a list that included “79 increases to fees and fines.”
"They wouldn't be appropriately characterized as a tax," Tombe said.
Taxes are involuntary levies that everyone must pay, he said.
Fees are better viewed as a price for something the government is providing, Tombe said, and a fine must be paid if a regulation, rule or law is violated.
"That makes it very different than a tax."
The Alberta New Democrats said in an email that if the same methodology is used, there has been 144 tax increases under the United Conservative Party government.
The “silly season”
The UCP has been in government since defeating the NDP in 2019. Alberta is to have a provincial election in . Political parties often use attack ads in the lead-up to the writ being dropped.
“Especially in the pre-writ period, there is a reason this is known as the ‘silly season,’” Tombe said.
Parties engaging in misleading communication is not unique to Alberta or any specific political party, he said.
"In order for voters to cast their ballot in a way that reflects genuine differences between the parties, it is important that the parties be honest with voters so voters can actually determine what's best for them,” Tombe said.
Sources
Claim can be found on Twitter (), ()
Tweet containing apparent breakdown of tax increases can be found ()
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