After cutting workers' wages, Kenney cuts taxes for wealthy corporation

EDMONTON – One day after picking the pockets of Alberta workers by cutting banked overtime and youth wages, Jason Kenney and the UCP are now paying their bosses with the largest corporate tax cut in Alberta’s history.

The UCP’s own platform shows that Bill 3, the Job Creation Tax Cut (Alberta Corporate Tax Amendment) Act, will blow a $4.5-billion hole in the province treasury. That same platform also makes it clear that Premier Kenney’s corporate tax cut doesn’t generate a dollar of economic return for at least two years.

In recent days, it has become clear that the UCP plans to pay for some of this tax cut through cuts to classroom funding despite the fact that 15,000 new students are expected in Alberta’s schools this fall.

“Premier Kenney is going into your pockets with one bill, paying off wealthy corporations with another and then, when you’re already hurting, he’s going to cut the services you rely on,” said Joe Ceci, Municipal Affairs critic for Alberta’s Official NDP Opposition and former Alberta Finance Minister. “He’s going to cut funding for classrooms and hospitals to pay for a risky experiment with questionable results elsewhere.”

One example of corporate tax cut failures elsewhere came to light earlier this months when it was revealed a $1-billion break given to telecom giant AT&T by U.S. President Donald Trump did not generate the 7,000 jobs promised by the corporation in return. Instead, AT&T cut 23,000 jobs.

The Stephen Harper government, of which Premier Kenney was a member, also cut corporate taxes in an attempt to spur job growth. Instead, it led to a $500-billion stockpile of corporate cash that former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney described as “dead money.”

The Alberta NDP Caucus is calling on the UCP to pump the brakes on their tax cut for wealthy corporations.