The following are a few facts about government spending and taxation you may find interesting:

$541 million - The amount of money Canada spent on its 250 foreign consulates and embassies last year. Australia, which is about the same size as Canada, has 141 foreign offices, 109 fewer that Canada. The most expensive Canadian embassy to operate was in Japan, which spent $27.4 million.

A cup of coffee - The latest "perk" that Revenue Canada says it has the right to tax. The federal tax department ruled last summer that the cost of a free beverage provided by an employer to its workers is to be considered a taxable benefit.

$621 billion - The interest paid on the accumulated national debt over the past two decades. The total amount paid in interest keeps increasing by $40 billion each year. At the current pace of debt reduction, it will take Canada almost two centuries to wipe out the national debt that was accumulated by successive Liberal and Conservative governments over 22 years from 1975 to 1997.

$1 per person - The amount of money per person that Canadians think should be spent by the government on millennium celebrations according to the polls The actual amount being spent: five times that.

88% - The increased cost to operate the provincial government's fleet of three aircraft from 1995-96 to 1998-99. Over the four years, costs rose from $738,907 to $1,392,262 and would have been even higher if the government had properly accounted for interest and depreciation.

Two homes and a tax-free salary - Just a couple of the perks enjoyed by the Governor General. The new G-G, Adrienne Clarkson, gets a $92,000 tax-free annual salary along with two opulent official residences: Rideau Hall, a mansion of 35 acres opposite the Prime Minister's residence and the Citadel, a 19th century fortress converted into a Victorian mansion in Quebec City.

$15 million - The amount of money Bloc Quebecois MPs are eligible to collect in federal pensions, even if Quebec separates from Canada. As of the sixth anniversary of the 1993 election, about 100 MPs from all five parties, including 30 Bloc MPs, qualified for an estimated $50 million in pension benefits.

44,000 - The number of civil servants currently employed by Revenue Canada to collect taxes for the government representing 25% of the workforce. In contrast, the number of people in the Canadian Armed Forces defending our freedoms is expected to soon drop to 49,000.

$5 million - How much the federal government is spending to have its experts at Revenue Canada teach dictator Fidel Castro how to tax Cuban citizens.

$250,000 - The cost of sending personal support staff to accompany Prime Minister Jean Chretien when he travelled on vacation over the past two years.

24 cents per litre - The amount prices at the gas pump would have to rise for Canada to meet its emission targets under the Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gases.

$200 billion - How much the federal Finance Department estimates it could cost to settle all outstanding Native land claims in Canada.