EDMONTON, AB: The NDP government’s latest tax hike on Alberta’s small breweries is causing greater uncertainty for business owners and creates an expensive new grant program, the Wildrose Official Opposition said today.
On Tuesday, the NDP government announced the tax markup on beer to $1.25 per litre regardless of production quantities or brewery location, while announcing a new bureaucracy to hand out grants to businesses that qualify.
“By raising taxes across the board for small brewers and promising a vague grant program to compensate smaller brewers, the NDP has created further instability and uncertainty in the industry,” Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said. “The NDP just can’t stop themselves from raising taxes on Albertans and it’s tearing down confidence in Alberta as a safe place to do business.”
Wildrose Shadow Finance Minister Derek Fildebrandt said this is just the latest example of the NDP creating uncertainty for job-creators, and panned the idea of raising taxes just to create expensive new grant programs.
“Announcing a massive tax hike with no details on who will get rebates shows how little respect the NDP have for entrepreneurs. This is an unfortunate situation the NDP has put our small brewers in and it creates instability across the industry,” Fildebrandt said. “We should be looking at ways to make our industries more competitive through lowering taxes to increase growth in the economy. Instead, the NDP can barely go more than a few months without raising taxes on businesses and individuals across the province.”