EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Jim Prentice is slowly narrowing the options he’ll pursue to rescue the provincial economy from the drastic plunge in oil prices.
Prentice says he does not foresee hiking Alberta’s 10 per cent corporate tax as a way to help replace the billions of dollars siphoned from the treasury because of the oil price collapse.
Prentice says other provinces have similar corporate tax rates, and he says to hike Alberta’s levy risks making it uncompetitive.
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The premier has previously said he doesn’t want to hike oil royalty rates, and on the weekend told a newspaper the proposal for a provincial sales tax idea is effectively dead.
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He is still considering changes to the 10 per cent flat tax on personal income as well as delaying capital projects.
Prentice says his government is now talking to public sector union members about their salary deals, which Prentice calls unsustainable.
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