Albertans enjoy a very high quality of life. They enjoy the lowest overall taxes in Canada with among the highest level of services. They have the highest disposable incomes in Canada and the lowest unemployment rate in Canada. Alberta also has:

City skyline and canola field, near Calgary.

• a strong and vibrant economy
• a young, skilled and productive workforce
• affordable living costs
• a strong commitment to innovation and knowledge-based progress
• a highly entrepreneurial and competitive business community
• a business-friendly province committed to responsible regulation
• a modern and efficient infrastructure
• an abundance of natural resources
• a beautiful natural environment

Albertans have a big, beautiful backyard to play in. Alberta's provincial parks and protected areas provide access to some of the most spectacular natural landscapes in North America, including more dinosaur fossils than any other single spot on the planet; the world's only boreal forest songbird observatories; the largest collection of aboriginal rock art on the North American Plains; a glacier; majestic mountains and so much more.

Tax Advantage

• Alberta has by far the lowest combined provincial and municipal tax burden among the provinces, at 53% of the national average.
• The lowest top marginal personal income tax rate among the provinces at 39%-29% federal and 10% provincial.
• No provincial sales tax.
• At 9.0 cents per litre, Alberta has the lowest gasoline tax rate among the provinces, 2.5 cents per litre below Manitoba, the second lowest province the second lowest general corporate income tax rate in Canada at 11.5%.
• Businesses also benefit because Alberta has no general sales tax, capital tax or payroll tax.
• Alberta's small business corporate income tax rate of 3% is the second lowest in Canada.

Graphs and more information on Alberta's tax advantage

Alberta: the first debt-free province in Canada

Debt elimination in Alberta

• At its peak in 1994, Alberta's debt was $22.7 billion, working out to about $8,400 for every man, woman and child in Alberta.
• The government began paying down the debt in 1995.
• The net debt (the difference between the government's liabilities and its financial assets) was eliminated in 1999.
• In the spring of 1999, the Fiscal Responsibility Act legislated a plan to pay off the remaining accumulated debt.
• On July 12, 2004, the government announced the final installment on the debt. Funds in the Debt Retirement Account are to be locked in.
• Alberta has reduced the annual debt servicing costs by almost $1.4 billion from 1994 by aggressively paying down the debt. These savings have been re-invested in priority areas important to Albertans, such as health, education, infrastructure and tax cuts.

Alberta Advantage charts and graphs or pdf version.

Economy

Alberta's Advantages
Statistics and Publications

Business and Economy links

Resources

Environment and Natural Resources links