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UCP Tax Cut Hits the Target but Misses the Mark

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7 minute read

Opinion by Cory G. Litzenberger

Well for fear of being lynched, let me talk about how I think the UCP’s Job Creation Tax Cut may be (partially) incorrect.

While I applaud politicians for laying out their plans in advance of an election, my fear is that the plan is too slow in implementation and cuts too far.

I think a tax cut needs to be moderate and quick – not slow and deep.

Here are my thoughts for various tax changes we need to do in Alberta:

General Corporate Income Tax Rate:

Instead of cutting by 1% per year over 4 years, bring it back by 2% to 10% from 12% in the first year and keep it there.

By delaying the cut as the UCP currently proposes, it could reduce the impact it will have on the economy as the change to the bottom line will not be impacted enough for a corporation to make larger investment until year two or three of the plan.

Quicker action by government will result in quicker action by business, resulting in quicker action in the economy and job creation.

10% also still makes us the lowest jurisdiction in Canada.

Personal Income Tax change to 3 brackets:

– 8% for first $50k
– 10% for the next $100k
– 12% for over $150k

This reduction from 10% on the first $50,000 saves roughly $600 in personal income tax (after factoring in the basic personal tax credit) for every individual making more than $50,000 a year.

It also saves 2% for those making under $50,000 currently.

This is an important cut in order to reward people that call Alberta home, as you will see below.

A rich person paying 12% in Alberta on their personal income is better than them paying 0% because they live somewhere else.

Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) 5%

Yes, I think we need to remove the inflationary and regressive carbon tax as it is way too high of a burden and causes a ripple effect in inflationary pricing how it was implemented.

However, I suggest we implement a 5% HST (which is a flow-through for businesses and does not have the same impact on pricing).

Now, hear me out before you break out the yellow vest!

Currently, anyone visiting our province as either a tourist or a temporary worker from another province are using our infrastructure like roads, water, and yes, even hospital emergency rooms.

When these non-Alberta residents file their personal tax returns, they file it based on their home province of residence as of December 31. Since most of them don’t have a permanent residence in Alberta, this results is them paying income taxes to other provinces, while using our infrastructure for free.

Other provincial residents not paying any taxes in Alberta while here unfairly puts the cost on all of us that live here.

If we implemented an HST similar to the GST program, low income households would still receive credit back (just like GST credit) to offset most (if not all) of any HST they pay.

The $600 in income tax savings we mentioned above for everyone else, is equivalent to $12,000 of taxable supplies consumed ($24,000 in a double income household where they each make over $50,000 of income).

Don’t forget that basic grocery and shelter do not have sales taxes, and if Andrew Scheer gets elected, neither will basic home heating.(https://twitter.com/andrewscheer/status/854364648388182016)

This income tax reduction of $600 to $1,200 would offset much of the sales tax you would pay, but would now start to charge non-Alberta resident visitors and workers.

The reason for an HST instead of a PST is that currently, an HST is required to be charged by all GST registrants across Canada. If you are a GST registrant, you are automatically an HST registrant.

For example, in my office in Red Deer, I have to charge my Ontario customers HST and send it in to the government even though my business is in Alberta.

An HST could reduce the potential for tax leakage out of our province by funneling it back to Alberta because of other retailers in other provinces requiring to charge it on things purchased outside of, or shipped to, Alberta.

Results

– a competitive corporate tax rate to attract investment and do it quicker than the original UCP plan;
– low personal income tax to attract wealthy individuals (and their tax residency) back to Alberta to make it their place of residence, again, quickly;
– removal of the inflationary carbon tax;
– insertion of a relatively low cost HST so that we can get back some of that transfer payment money from the residents of other provinces.

In Summary

– Reduce Corporate moderately and quickly.
– Reduce Individual moderately and quickly.
– Remove Carbon tax.
– Implement an HST.

I know that the slight mention of a sales tax in Alberta makes the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up, and for many conservative politicians, they would resign before suggesting it. However, even as a fiscal-conservative tax accountant like myself, I believe that if it is implemented properly with tax reductions elsewhere, it can add to the bottom line for the province.

I also think it can do so without being a burden to those that live here by taxing those that don’t.
———
Cory G. Litzenberger, CPA, CMA, CFP, C.Mgr is the President & Founder of CGL Strategic Business & Tax Advisors; you can find out more about Cory’s biography at http://www.CGLtax.ca/Litzenberger-Cory.html

CEO | Director CGL Tax Professional Corporation With the Income Tax Act always by his side on his smart-phone, Cory has taken tax-nerd to a whole other level. His background in strategic planning, tax-efficient corporate reorganizations, business management, and financial planning bring a well-rounded approach to assist private corporations and their owners increase their wealth through the strategies that work best for them. An entrepreneur himself, Cory started CGL with the idea that he wanted to help clients adapt to the ever-changing tax and economic environment and increase their wealth through optimizing the use of tax legislation coupled with strategic business planning and financial analysis. His relaxed blue-collar approach in a traditionally white-collar industry can raise a few eyebrows, but in his own words: “People don’t pay me for my looks. My modeling career ended at birth.” More info: https://CGLtax.ca/Litzenberger-Cory.html

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illegal immigration

ICE raid proves Tren de Aragua illegals in US—despite denials

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Quick Hit:

An ICE raid in Aurora, Colorado, confirms the presence of the Tren de Aragua gang—despite repeated denials from Democrats and their media allies. The operation comes just months after Governor Jared Polis dismissed concerns as unfounded.

Key Details:

  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 100 suspected Tren de Aragua gang members in Aurora, Colorado, during a predawn raid.

  • The operation contradicts previous claims from Democratic officials, including Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who downplayed the gang’s presence.

  • The raid follows years of border security failures under President Biden, with President Trump’s renewed crackdown already showing results.

Diving Deeper:

  1. For months, Democrats and their media allies insisted that Tren de Aragua was a myth, dismissing concerns as right-wing fearmongering. But as the New York Post Editorial Board pointed out, “Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a cross-section of federal law enforcement agencies just went after a full 100 Tren gangbangers in the Denver suburb, nabbing suspects in predawn raids.”

This comes just five months after Colorado Governor Jared Polis suggested fears over Tren de Aragua were baseless. Despite videos and reports showing otherwise, officials and the mainstream press denied the gang’s existence, parroting the Biden administration’s claims of a secure border.

The Post’s editorial board slammed the media’s complicity, writing, “A compliant media echoed that lie loud and long, even as gangbangers and traffickers, dealers and pimps crossed the border and began to ply their ugly trades stateside.” The reality of unchecked illegal immigration has repeatedly vindicated Americans who raised concerns, only to be dismissed as alarmists.

Meanwhile, President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have insisted that little could be done to address the border crisis. But as the Post notes, “President Trump’s border crackdown is already producing results, after years of Biden and his border henchman-in-chief Alejandro Mayorkas pretending nothing at all could be done to stem the tide or send the millions home.”

The raid underscores the failures of Biden’s open-border policies and the deception used to cover them up. The Post editorial board summed it up succinctly: “Much of what makes federal action on the border catastrophe—raids on gang beachheads, funding cutoffs to sanctuary cities and so on—seem so dramatic is that it’s all about waking up from fake ‘reality’ painted by the big lies of the Biden years.”

While Democrats focused on pushing DEI initiatives and taxpayer-funded media subscriptions, criminal gangs like Tren de Aragua were entrenching themselves in American communities. The latest ICE raid shatters the illusion that the border crisis is a manufactured issue—something the American people have known all along.

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Business

Trump’s FBI questionnaire exposes shocking conspiracy

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Quick Hit:

Mary Rooke’s recent op-ed in The Daily Caller highlights how President Trump’s administration has uncovered what she terms as a major conspiracy within the FBI, where agents were allegedly reassigned from critical child pornography investigations to pursue cases against January 6 protestors.

Key Points:

  • The FBI diverted resources from a child pornography investigation to focus on January 6 riot cases.

  • Trump’s questionnaire to FBI employees revealed that approximately 5,000 agents were dedicated to Capitol riot investigations.

  • Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, aims to cleanse the agency of personnel working against its mission.

  • The op-ed questions the prioritization of law enforcement efforts under previous administration.

Diving Deeper:

In her commentary published on February 6, 2025, for The Daily Caller, Mary Rooke delves into what she describes as a shocking revelation within the FBI, facilitated by a straightforward questionnaire from President Donald Trump. According to Rooke, this has exposed a disturbing shift in priorities under the previous administration.

Rooke references an investigation initially reported by The Daily Wire in November 2023, which exposed an incident from January 2021. She details how the FBI, allegedly under Biden’s administration, redirected its focus from a significant child pornography case involving Brogan Welsh to prosecute those involved in the January 6 Capitol riot. “Despite overwhelming evidence proving that Welsh was a danger to children, the FBI decided to drop the investigation in order to go after Trump supporters,” Rooke asserts, highlighting what she calls a “major conspiracy the left has demonized conservative media for covering.”

She provides specifics on Welsh’s case: “The Washington Bureau tracked Brogan Welsh through the IP address he used to send their undercover agent explicit messages expressing his intent to rape a young boy. Welsh apparently sent a video of ‘a prepubescent minor male being anally penetrated by an adult male’s erect penis,'” according to the Daily Wire’s report.

Further, Rooke notes that Welsh’s activities were uncovered by the FBI’s Alaska bureau after they found evidence suggesting he might have been sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy. She quotes, “On October 24, 2023, after coming across troubling chats from Welsh on a phone they seized from a different alleged pervert, Alaska FBI agents went into his house and ‘located items including sex toys that are very small in size and apparently consistent with the body size of an approximate 10-year-old boy,’ as well as children’s underwear.”

Rooke criticizes the FBI’s decision to abandon this investigation, particularly when it was revealed through Trump’s questionnaire that 5,000 FBI employees were involved in January 6 cases. “How many child rapists went without prosecution so the FBI could send armed agents to terrorize American grandmothers in their homes? How many criminals came across the southern border? How many of the cyber attacks we experienced during the Biden administration could have been prevented had the FBI focused on protecting our country?” she questions, underscoring the potential neglect of other serious crimes due to this shift in focus.

She also discusses the contentious confirmation hearings for Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, who has vowed to “purge the agency of personnel who have worked against the mission to keep America safe.” Democrats have been criticized for their attempts to delay his confirmation, which Rooke sees as an obstruction to necessary reforms within the FBI.

Rooke concludes her op-ed by emphasizing the broader implications of these actions, suggesting that the Trump administration’s efforts are part of a larger movement to restore accountability and integrity to federal law enforcement. She posits, “For decades, the federal government has operated as if it wasn’t accountable to the American people. The Trump administration has been working diligently to clean out the rot… If Trump keeps up this pace, we might actually get our country back.”

This detailed analysis by Rooke paints a picture of political manipulation within one of America’s key law enforcement agencies, stirring significant debate on the balance between national security, justice, and political motivations.

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