TORONTO: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today responded to the 2002 Ontario Budget that was tabled by Finance Minister Janet Ecker this afternoon in the legislature at Queen's Park.

Budget sets spending precedent
"Minister Ecker gets a C minus from taxpayers for her first budget effort. Outside of the priority envelopes of health care, education and the environment, the government has reined in other expenditures," stated CTF federal director Walter Robinson. "But record spending of $65.5 billion sets an ominous tone for the next election where all parties will trumpet their commitment to public services by measuring inputs, read: spending, as opposed to measuring outputs, read: the results we receive for these tax dollars."

 

"While the government had to keep its commitments in health and education along with the recent acceptance of the Walkerton report, Minister Ecker along with her colleague, Health Minister Tony Clement, must present Ontarians with a clearer picture with respect to health system reform," added Robinson. "Health care now consumes 39% of all expenditures and 47% of program spending. Soon we will need only two ministries: finance to collect taxes and health to spend them. Then what do we do "

Tobacco tax hikes
"Hiking tobacco taxes raises short term revenue at the expense of long term reform. There is no guarantee that new 'sin' taxes will all find their way to the health care envelope. And while this hike does not violate the letter of the Taxpayer Protection Act, it surely runs contrary to its spirit," said Robinson.

Tampering with the Taxpayer Protection Act
"Delaying tax relief may in fact be the prudent response to the present fiscal situation, but Minister Ecker must be very careful when amending the Taxpayer Protection Act. The amendment - call it the 9/11 amendment if you will - she seeks to delay previously legislated tax relief measures must be specific and expire on the eve of next year's budget," noted Robinson. "Clearly, the government is buying time. On another front, we support her plan to remove another 50,000 low-income earners from the tax rolls."

Avoiding debt reduction penalizes tomorrow's taxpayers
"Other than the $1 billion reserve, the government has again failed to provide intergenerational fiscal leadership by refusing to establish a legislated debt reduction schedule. Debt interest payments chew up $8.5 billion annually; that's almost $1 million per hour per day, 365 days a year."

The CTF was complimentary toward the government for its commitment to zero-based budgeting, departmental program review over a four-year cycle and its efforts to adopt best practices for management and/or divestiture of public assets.