{"id":239638,"date":"2019-12-09T20:01:55","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T01:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=239638"},"modified":"2019-12-09T20:01:55","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T01:01:55","slug":"ndp-alternative-budget-sees-99-per-cent-of-albertans-pay-less-get-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/12\/09\/ndp-alternative-budget-sees-99-per-cent-of-albertans-pay-less-get-more\/","title":{"rendered":"NDP alternative budget sees 99 per cent of Albertans pay less, get more"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anyone earning less than $315,000 would pay less under the NDP budget by reversing Kenney\u2019s sneaky \u201cbracket creep\u201d scheme and numerous other fee and tax hikes being pushed onto everyday Albertans by the UCP. (File Photo<\/a>: Jason Kenney\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EDMONTON — The NDP Official Opposition has released an Alternative Budget to the one put forward by Jason Kenney and the UCP government, one that sees Albertans pay less and get more.<\/p>\n

The budget reverses the failed $4.7-billion corporate handout that isn\u2019t creating jobs and instead increases personal income taxes by one per cent on the wealthiest one per cent, those earning more than $315,000 annually. Anyone earning less than $315,000 would pay less under the NDP budget by reversing Kenney\u2019s sneaky \u201cbracket creep\u201d scheme and numerous other fee and tax hikes being pushed onto everyday Albertans by the UCP.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Jason Kenney, Albertans are paying more and getting less, with the exception of those running big corporations,\u201d said NDP Finance Critic Shannon Phillips. \u201cWe are turning this Premier\u2019s terrible and cruel budget on its head with our plan. We’re removing his failed $4.7-billion corporate handout and are instead investing in diversification and job creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would fund school enrolment growth, we would limit tuition fee increases to inflation, we would re-index AISH and seniors\u2019 benefits, and we would absolutely not fire thousands upon thousands of frontline healthcare workers as our population grows.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Premier\u2019s corporate handout has not worked. Eighteen thousand jobs were lost in November alone, the largest one-month job loss outside of a recession in provincial history.<\/p>\n

The NDP\u2019s Alternative Budget comes after a series of town hall meetings held in the fall and tens of thousands of emails and handwritten letters from Albertans concerned about Jason Kenney\u2019s cruel budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Government did not consult before they moved to slash funding for our hospitals, our schools and the services Albertans rely on,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cThey claimed they had a mandate to do the damage they have done, but the attacks on Albertans in their budget cannot be found in the UCP platform. Jason Kenney\u2019s true agenda has been revealed – he lied to Albertans, he cut frontline spending when he said he wouldn\u2019t and he used the Office of the Premier to bury his corrupt acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually consulted with Albertans and are proud to present them with a budget that proves it didn\u2019t have to be this way. We would continue to reduce school fees instead of hiking them, we would maintain the cap on insurance and the cap on electricity bills, instead of letting companies run those costs up, and we would not download a $200-million bill for policing onto municipal councillors who then will be left with no choice but to hike property taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Alternative Budget examines two scenarios for carbon pricing on non-industrial emitters. One where the federal backstop is implemented and one where we return to the previous pricing regime with an enhanced rural consumer rebate of $200 million. In both cases, the budget returns to balance 2023-2024.<\/p>\n

The NDP budget also maintains tax credits to support emerging high-tech and digital industries. Under this UCP government\u2019s budget, these job creators have paused or cancelled their expansion plans, and are even considering other locations for new projects and offices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe budget maintains a credible path to balance that will eliminate the deficit by 2023-24,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cThe UCP government\u2019s plan, which comes to balance only one year sooner and actually carries a higher deficit this year, forces Alberta families and businesses to pay more and causes long-term damage to our economy. Albertans can already see this happening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON — The NDP Official Opposition has released an Alternative Budget to the one put forward by Jason Kenney and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":216256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-albertas-ndp-caucus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239639,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239638\/revisions\/239639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}