If you read
last Saturday’s Telegram containing the James McLeod story “Ball falls, gets
back up” you might be left with the impression we shouldn't worry about the
province’s fiscal problems. How Ball actually "gets back up" is unclear. But equally doubtful is Ball's description of how he plans to get the budget back to balance: The Telegram paraphrases the Premier:
“The government has already hiked
taxes basically as high as possible in the spring budget, so over the coming
years it will need to cut roughly $100 million per year to get back to balance
by 2022.”
Hold it there!
The budget update confirmed a deficit this year of $1.58 billion. That is just the
deficit on current account – or as some refer to it the grocery money.
Even Jethro Bodine - the dimwitted nephew of Jed Clampett’s 1960s ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ TV series - wouldn't need help with this problem. It is obvious that at the rate of a $100 million annually it will take “roughly” 16 years, possibly out to 2033, to “get back to budget balance” and then only with respect to the current account.
Even Jethro Bodine - the dimwitted nephew of Jed Clampett’s 1960s ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ TV series - wouldn't need help with this problem. It is obvious that at the rate of a $100 million annually it will take “roughly” 16 years, possibly out to 2033, to “get back to budget balance” and then only with respect to the current account.
