President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance, Joe Ceci, delivered the 2018 Alberta budget on March 22, 2018. This year’s budget, titled “A recovery built to last”, included several tax measures, including a new Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, an extension of the Alberta Investor Tax Credit and Capital Investment Tax Credit to 2021-22, and indexation of the personal income tax system, which will save Albertans $65 million in 2018.
The budget also included a couple of other tax measures which are summarized below.
Cannabis Tax
Alberta agreed to enter into a coordinated cannabis tax framework with the federal government in December 2017. Under this framework, the greater of $1 per gram or 10% of the producer price will be collected as tax and will be split between the federal government and the province. Alberta will receive 75% of this amount, and can also collect an additional amount of up to 10% of the retail price.
The federal government will use the federal excise tax to collect the province’s share of the tax on cannabis, which is the greater of 75 cents per gram or 7.5% of the producer price, and an additional amount equal to 10% of the retail price.
Revenue generated for the province from this tax is estimated to be $26 million in 2018-19 and is expected to increase to $80 million in 2019-20.
To ensure that Alberta can cover its cost of cannabis operations and earn a reasonable profit, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission is allowed to collect a markup on the wholesale distribution and retail sale of cannabis made through the public online system.
Education Property Tax
The total education property tax requisition is frozen for 2018 to 2019. However, the residential/farmland rate will increase to $2.56 from $2.48 per $1,000 of equalized assessment, and the non-residential rate will increase to $3.76 from $3.64 because of lower assessed values in 2016.
More Information
Further information on Alberta’s 2018 budget may be found on the province's web site at: https://www.alberta.ca/budget-documents.aspx
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