-- CTF Releases GST-to-Debt Calculations, Begins to Frame the Debate for Budget 2001 --



OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation today released calculations depicting where the National Debt would be today if successive Canadian governments had not broken trust with Canadians and actually used all net GST proceeds to pay down the National Debt as promised in the 1991 budget document.

"What today's calculations reveal is that a $185 billion burden that could have been lifted off the backs of tomorrow's taxpayers if only successive federal governments had respected yesterday's promises," stated CTF federal director Walter Robinson. "The bottom line is that our debt-to-GDP ratio could have been 38.5% today instead of almost 57%. "

In the 1991 budget document, former federal Finance Minister stated:

I am well aware that many Canadians have expressed concern that revenues from the GST might be used to finance new spending programs instead of helping to reduce the deficit. While the legislated spending limits I have just described should ease concerns about new spending programs, an additional safeguard will be provided - As part of our Plan for Economic Recovery, we will ensure that all GST revenues are allocated solely to the effort to bring the public debt under control.

"Imagine if net GST proceeds had been applied to debt reduction for the past decade," added Robinson. "The end of the national debt would be within the grasp of a lifetime even with the Liberal government's current pathetic pace of debt reduction."

"Debt reduction and tax cuts are the two sides of the same coin. Cutting taxes today allows the economy to grow and tight controls on spending will allow more tax revenues to be applied to debt reduction," noted Robinson. "Today's debt burden represents nothing more than deferred taxation for future generations. But for us not to do more now is tantamount to intergenerational tax evasion."

The CTF will amplify its calls for a government spending caps along with a legislated schedule of debt reduction in the 2001 budget consultations slated for this fall. "A legislated schedule is the only way to protect tomorrow's taxpayers - our children," concluded Robinson.