The Presence of an Absence: The Politics of Provincial Sales Tax in Alberta

Abstract

ABSTRACT Alberta is the only Canadian province without a provincial sales tax (PST). Despite repeated calls from prominent economists and other policy experts, Alberta politicians have long rejected the idea of creating a PST in the province. This is not only the case of previous Progressive Conservative governments but also of the New Democratic (NDP) government of Rachel Notley. Partisanship alone cannot explain why politicians in the province have been so reluctant to consider the creation of a PST, which has become the “third rail of Alberta politics” (touch it and die). Using the concept of ideational policy feedback, this article argues that, in addition to structural factors such as the availability of resource revenues to create massive fiscal downfalls in good times, the ways in which politicians have framed comparatively low taxes as an “Alberta Advantage” makes the creation of a PST particularly risky from an electoral standpoint.