If a regular, everyday homeowner ends up in tax arrears, legal mechanisms are in place to, shall we say, encourage them to pay up.
Of course if you’re an oil and gas company, no worries! The province has a long history of bending over backwards to cater to corporations.
The Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) recently conducted a member survey that identified an outstanding roughly $173 million in property taxes that oil and gas companies owe rural districts across the province, with Mountain View County being no exception.
That’s, according to the organization, a massive 114 per cent increase from the $81 million that was noted following a similar survey just last March — not even a year ago.
One can only wonder what that number will soar to over the coming year.
“Many oil and gas companies are unable or unwilling to pay municipal property taxes due to the ongoing downturn in the price of oil and Alberta’s challenges in market access and receiving a fair price for its resources,” reads a press release issued by RMA.
Well, how convenient.
Many people are also struggling to make their own personal ends meet, with stagnant wages and promised job creation yet to materialize, but they’re not exempt from paying their taxes, and they certainly don’t get any kind of preferential treatment.
Meanwhile, this news comes out at about the same time that Canada’s major banks have downgraded forecasted economic growth in Alberta. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the UCP’s upwards redistribution of wealth to profitable corporations and the one per cent is — not surprisingly — failing to generate job growth or spur any meaningful economic activity.
“An easing of the province’s curtailment plan alongside a modest rebound in investment are expected to underpin growth,” reads a recent analysis by TD, going on to add, “However, still-subdued labour markets and fiscal restraint will limit the upside potential.”
Regardless of wishful thinking UCP promises, the price of oil is still not expected to soar back to the good ol’ days of $100-plus per barrel any time in the foreseeable future. And that’s the coveted West Texas Intermediate’s rate. We’ll be extremely lucky if the Western Canadian Select breaks $40 any time soon.
So quite arguably long gone and relegated to the history books are the days of being able to drop out of high school to pick up a shovel and earn a six-figure salary in the patch.
“The province’s unemployment rate remains the highest outside of Atlantic Canada,” reads TD’s report.
“Although the composition of job growth has encouragingly shifted from self-employment to the private sector over the past year, headline job gains have been disappointing. In this environment, Alberta’s highly-indebted households have remained cautious in their spending.”
When corporations get tax cuts or deferments, they largely take the money and run, leaving the rest of us flapping in the wind to cover the tab.
But when average people get a break, that money goes directly back into the economy. The only people in this province who are overtaxed are average citizens — not corporations that are at every possible opportunity treated favourably at our collective expense.
Until our government recognizes this, the situation will not improve and growth will remain restrained.
Simon Ducatel is the editor of the Sundre Round Up.
