Lanterna Rally

Author:

Publisher: Canadian Centre Policy Alternatives

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 82

ISBN-13: 0886273684

Kyoto protocol and promote a sophisticated, The AFB thus urges Paul Martin to base his environmentally sustainable economy; budget projections on independent assessments • rebuild and stabilize the funding for Cana- conducted by the Auditor-General, enhancing da's national cultural institutions; the transparency of federal budgets and hence • restore and enhance the fairness of the tax the public' [...] A full 44% of the "fiscal At the same time that it was repaying pub- dividend" enjoyed by the federal government lic debt, the federal government implemented in the five years after balancing its books has $100 billion in tax cuts over five years as the gone to debt reduction, with another 46% to key method of distributing and eliminating the tax cuts. [...] For years 2005 and beyond, we use the Economic and Fiscal Up- The Fiscal Outlook of the AFB date's estimates of real GDP growth.4 The interest rate is the final macroeconomic With these macroeconomic assumptions in variable that plays a decisive role in the federal place, the second step of the AFB process is to budget. [...] However, with the addi- a capital asset, the full expense of the asset is tional borrowing undertaken for CIFA, the not recorded in the year in which the purchase total stock of federally-guaranteed debt in- is made. [...] It is important to note, however, that the pected life of 40 years out of its program spend- federal debt burden, including the CIFA, falls ing budget, $125 million would show up in throughout the AFB forecast as a share of GDP program expenses for each of the 40 years of (from about 42% of GDP at present to 37.4% the expected life of the asset.