Calgary used to have one of the highest concentrations of head offices in Canada. The tax rates here were minimal.
I had some friends who did presentation and multimedia development for those companies who were suggesting I move here in the early 2000s since they were swamped with work.
Tax rates fell in other provinces and those head offices relocated to take advantage of the new rates as they tend to do.
People want to blame the oil prices and covid but there was a shift in head offices out of Calgary well before either event.
The main driver was that other provinces beat Alberta to the 'race to the bottom' in terms of tax rates.
It is an indicator that development priorities are ass-backwards. We try to attract big corporations thinking they will bring jobs instead of making cities liveable and attracting or building smaller businesses that will actually stay and help keep the city and the province economically feasible.
Calgary used to have one of the highest concentrations of head offices in Canada. The tax rates here were minimal.
I had some friends who did presentation and multimedia development for those companies who were suggesting I move here in the early 2000s since they were swamped with work.
Tax rates fell in other provinces and those head offices relocated to take advantage of the new rates as they tend to do.
People want to blame the oil prices and covid but there was a shift in head offices out of Calgary well before either event.
The main driver was that other provinces beat Alberta to the 'race to the bottom' in terms of tax rates.
It is an indicator that development priorities are ass-backwards. We try to attract big corporations thinking they will bring jobs instead of making cities liveable and attracting or building smaller businesses that will actually stay and help keep the city and the province economically feasible.