Tax watchdog joins legal fight against Alberta government appeal

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is helping out-of-province craft brewing companies shoot down an Alberta government appeal. The tax-watchdog group will act as an intervenor in the case.

In June 2018, the province’s superior court ordered Alberta’s Gaming and Liquor Commission to repay $2-million in taxes to out-of-province brewers who had been taxed unfairly, now it’s refusing to pay the restitution.

“This case is really about whether governments have to give back money that they have taxed when the law they used to tax it was unconstitutional,” Aaron Wudrick, federal director of CTF, said. “It’s a pretty simple principle: the government has grabbed money from you that they should never have been allowed to take in the first place. It seems pretty obvious to us that they should have to give it back to you.”

Toronto-based Steam Whistle Inc. and Great Western Brewing Co. took the case to superior court and won.

“The province of Alberta tried to find a way to treat brewers in Alberta differently than brewers out of province,” Wudrick said. “The court has found that they were not allowed to do what they did, which was to give a rebate only to Alberta brewers — essentially giving them a leg up.”

The AGLC introduced a mark-up policy that applied different rates to various regions.

Out-of-province brewers received a higher mark-up compared to craft brewers in Alberta, and the Alberta brewers also had their products subsidized with grants to offset the mark-up.

That mark-up resulted in more than $2 million being charged to brewers outside Alberta.

READ MORE: Changes coming to Alberta’s liquor laws