Lost Revenue
digging a deeper hole

Try as you might it is hard to get any hard information out of the new "open" government. The Ministry of Finance's budget consultation paper consists of two pages of introduction, a suggestion form, a one page appendix and an attachment of the full Fiscal Review Panel report. It turns out that one little table in that one page appendix provides the first glimpse at the full impact of the reckless tax cuts. To save you the trouble of going through the ministry's 214K pdf document, that table is reproduced here.

Keep in mind that the "Fiscal Review Panel Deficit Forecast" contains a good deal of padding consisting of conservative revenue assumptions and a $1.3 billion "forecast allowance". Added to that pessimistic outlook are $1.5 billion in personal tax cuts and by fiscal year 2003/04, $790 million in corporate tax cuts. This table appears to be the first clear representation of those numbers and their impact on the bottom line. Note that the table does not provide a line where these cuts magically pay for themselves. Maybe that will happen in fiscal 2004/2005, the year when the budget must be balanced.