A deep dive into the B.C. government budget that was tabled last week reveals that the fiscal plan may not bleed as much red ink as most headlines suggest.
While it is true much of this money will end up being spent over the course of the fiscal year it is quite conceivable that a lot will not be spent, thus potentially greatly decreasing the size of the budget deficit . Moreover, the Finance Ministry once again may have applied its usual practice of lowballing some revenue estimates.
Given that employment levels are expected to remain strong, there is every chance that personal income taxes could increase and not decline in the coming year. Last week, Moody’s Investors Service released a commentary on the budget and said it was “well-protected” against any economic headwinds, largely because of the huge contingencies and the other factors I have pointed to.