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The UCP said the programs have been hampered by red tape and have been shown to be a relatively inefficient way of delivering benefits to businesses.

It said its move to lower the corporate tax rate for all businesses to eight per cent from 12 per cent by 2022 is a better way to support job creation and grow the economy, since 100,000 Alberta companies will benefit from the tax cut while only 1,500 companies would have benefited from the tax credit programs.

The corporate tax cut translates into a net $2.4-billion revenue reduction for the government over four years.

“We made a commitment to Albertans that we were going to implement initiatives that increase job opportunities and improve the economy, and that’s why we implemented the Job Creation Tax Cut,” Finance Minister Travis Toews told reporters. “Research upon research upon research has demonstrated that as you improve the business environment, as you reduce the taxes in the business environment, you attract investment and create jobs in the long term.”

Toews said reducing the corporate tax rate is expected to lead to $4 billion annually in increased investment in Alberta by 2022-23, and will encourage sustainable diversification of the economy without relying on government handouts.

However, not everyone believes an across-the-board tax cut is preferable to the cancelled tax credits.

Many people in Alberta’s burgeoning tech sector say the Investor Tax Credit in particular — which had approved $28.1 million in tax credits by the end of 2018 and leveraged $94 million in investment for small and mid-sized businesses — helped get much-needed venture capital into the hands of new industries in a province where investment dollars have typically gone to oil and gas.