A report from the Fraser Institute says Alberta workers paid $27.9 billion into the Canada Pension Plan over and above what retirees in the province received in CPP payments over the past 10-year period.
The report – Albertans Make Disproportionate Contributions to National Programs: The Canada Pension Plan as a Case Study – released Wednesday added that Alberta’s disproportionate net contribution to the CPP kept the payroll tax rate for all workers (prior to the expansion) at 9.9 per cent instead of 10.6 per cent—the amount required to maintain the same level of pension benefits without Alberta workers contributing.
Jason
Clemens
“The Canada Pension Plan is just one example to show clearly that when Alberta is prosperous, the whole country benefits,” said Jason Clemens, executive vice-president of the Fraser Institute and co-author of the study, in a statement.
“Canadians in other parts of the country clearly benefit from Alberta’s outsized financial contribution to the country, so Canadians and governments across the country should be more accommodating to help Alberta prosper.”
The report said that in 2017 Alberta workers made 16.5 per cent of all contributions to the Canada Pension Plan, but retirees in Alberta received just 10.8 per cent of CPP payments. The net contribution of Alberta workers to the CPP over and above what Alberta retirees were paid in CPP payments was $2.9 billion that year.
– Mario Toneguzzi
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