Ontario’s Shrinking Fiscal Options
This report finds that the only way the Ontario government can avoid a budget deficit in 2001-02 is to suspend the implementation of further tax cuts. Contrary to the government’s claim, Ontario does not have a spending crisis. Instead it has a revenue crisis–one created by the government’s own policies.
The province’s shrinking fiscal options are the result of the cumulative effect of five years of tax cuts and a steadily worsening economic slowdown. The study estimates that, by the time all the promised tax cuts are fully implemented, Ontario’s annual revenue will be $20 billion lower than it would have been without the cuts.
