A TOAST TO FAIR POLICY
What’s behind the Alberta NDP’s sudden obsession with alcohol? The government has made a number of rulings around booze in recent months, ruffling the feathers of other provinces in the process.
The most controversial policy is the one that applies the same rate of taxation on beer regardless of where the beverage is brewed and regardless of the volumes produced. The initiative has the Saskatchewan government — a traditional ally of the province — crying in its beer because Rachel Notley’s NDP gives much of the money collected to Alberta’s craft sud makers in the form of grants.
“Alberta’s new beer pricing and grant policy are a trade issue that could hurt producers and consumers in both provinces,” declared Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Minister Don McMorris this summer.
Not content with this sleight of hand for brewers, the NDP has now announced that Alberta’s other small-scale liquor producers will receive a break on the amount of money they’re expected to turn over to the government when they sell their product out of their own facilities or at farmers’ or artisan markets.
The mark-up for spirits has been reduced from $13.67 a litre to $2.46 a litre; for ciders and coolers, the mark-up has been chopped to 32 cents a litre from $1.81 a litre.
The decision is only expected to cost the treasury $1.4 million a year, but it begs the question why the NDP is so determined to give distilleries, cider producers and cottage wineries this financial advantage, when it shows no such regard for other ventures, such as restaurants, for instance. The struggles Alberta eateries are having to digest — some of them the fault of the NDP — are legendary.
If the point of the latest initiative is to encourage manufacturing and stimulate economic activity, then why not give every company a break, regardless of their area of endeavour?
One of the first things the NDP did when it won the 2015 election was increase the corporate tax rate from 10 to 12 per cent. If it now feels that reducing the amount of money it extracts from businesses provides the economy with a boost, then allow every entrepreneur to experience a modest respite. It’s the fair thing to do.
Don’t misunderstand us: we’re proud of Alberta’s distillers and other liquor producers. But we also respect every businessperson who hangs up a shingle and hires a few employees in hopes of not only making ends meet, but building a reliable livelihood. The government should be doing its best to ensure every business is successful, not simply those that produce alcohol.