Alberta has ended the fiscal year with a massive $11.6 billion surplus, surpassing even the surplus predicted by Budget 2022, and also managed to pay down $13.3 billion in debt, according to the latest figures.
“Our fiscal update today is a positive one. It is an indication of the progress we’ve made in securing Alberta’s finances. I’m happy to tell you that for the second consecutive year, we balanced the budget and are reporting a surplus,” said Nate Horner, president of the Alberta Treasury Board and newly appointed minister of finance following the provincial election on May 29.
“Over that time, we saw some of the most extreme energy market volatility along with geopolitical events that create a global instability and uncertainty,” said Horner.
The minister said the government is aware of the “need to build long-term sustainability,” given unpredictable markets and spikes in oil prices, and that Alberta will continue to be a “low tax, pro-growth jurisdiction.”
“The Heritage Fund’s year-over-year growth was primarily due to actions taken by the Alberta government to retain $1.25 billion in net investment income from 2021–22 and deposit $753 million into the fund,” said the news release.
Legislative changes made in March allow the government to retain all investment income within the Heritage Fund instead of transferring it to general revenue.
Included in the 2022–23 revenue of $76.1 billion was $25.2 billion in non-renewable resource revenue, a growth of $11.4 billion more than the 2022 budget predicted.
The province also brought in $26.5 billion in tax revenue, which was $3.5 billion more than was estimated in the 2022 budget. Tax revenue included $8.2 billion in corporate income tax and $13.9 billion in personal income tax.
“That’s the highest amount of corporate income tax this province has ever generated in a single fiscal year,” said Horner.
“In addition to the impact of higher oil prices, this is a testament to our low tax business friendly environment, which is encouraging investment in diversification and creating new jobs by the thousands. It’s important to note that we generated a record amount of corporate income tax revenue with the lowest corporate income tax rate in the country,” he added.
“On top of eliminating the provincial fuel tax for a large part of the year, we also indexed personal income tax to match inflation, allowing Albertans to keep more of their hard-earned dollars in their pockets. Neither of these programs incurred any expense and both were reflected as a reduction in revenue,” said the finance minister.
Expenses were also higher than predicted, coming in at $64.5 billion for the 2022–23 fiscal year, which was $2.4 billion more than the 2022 budget estimated. A significant portion of that, $25.2 billion, was in health expenses to expand capacity and for higher health care costs overall, said the government.
Horner said that banks, forecasters, and economists “are predicting Alberta will lead the nation in economic growth over the next two years. Our own budget 2023 forecast shows the same.”
