On Tuesday, April 7, 2009, Finance Minister Iris Evans delivered the Alberta 2009 budget that included a deficit of $4.7 billion, its largest deficit and the first in 16 years.
Included in the budget announcement were several indirect taxation changes.
Tobacco Tax
Alberta has a Tobacco Reduction Strategy designed to reduce tobacco use among Albertans. To accomplish this goal the budget proposes to increases tobacco taxes effective, 12:01 a.m. April 8, 2009, as noted below:
- cigarettes by $3 to $40 per carton;
- loose tobacco will rise by 11.5 cents to 30 cents per gram; and
- the taxable price of cigars will rise to 103% from 95%.
Property Tax
The education property tax rates will be reduced by roughly 16% in 2009, the 16th consecutive year these rates have declined. Specifically, the decrease is from $4.04 to 3.39 per $1,000 of equalized assessment for residential/farm property and from $5.94 to $4.98 per $1,000 of equalized assessment for non-residential property.
Liquor mark-up
The budget also proposed increases in the liquor markups as follows:
- a dozen beer from a major brewer increases by $1.30;
- a 750 millilitre bottle of wine by at least 75 cents; and
- a 750 millilitre bottle of most spirits by $2.85.
Full details on the Alberta 2009 budget are available on the province’s web site at:
http://budget2009.alberta.ca/details/index.html