skip to main |
skip to sidebar
clint had a point?
"Money is like manure. If you spread it around, it does a lot of good; but if you pile it up in one place, it stinks like hell." - Clint Murchison
How fitting...
Tax revenue and investment income lift Alberta's surplus to $7 billion
Spending unchanged from second quarter forecast
Third Quarter Fiscal Highlights
* Revenue is $36.6 billion, an increase of $1.5 billion from second quarter forecast
* Expense is $29.7 billion, a decrease of $40 million from second quarter forecast
* The surplus is forecast at $7 billion, an increase of $1.5 billion from second quarter forecast
Edmonton... Strong business profits and returns in world equity markets are bolstering the province's bottom line in 2006-07, as reported in the Government of Alberta's 2006-07 Third Quarter Fiscal Update. Revenue is now forecast to be $4.2 billion higher than budgeted, increasing the forecast surplus to $7 billion.
Let's be clear here. The media needs to understand how to read the government balance sheet. There is no $7 billion surplus. All the money has been already allocated. The extra $1.5 billion from the third quarter update was put in the Alberta Sustainability Fund, finally a move of sanity after all the years of massive in year spending frenzies. All that is left is a $150 million contingency allowance as required under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. That's it. No $7 billion surplus!
ReplyDelete