Budget 2005
Budgets allow citizens to keep track of government's promises and to assess results in a tangible way. The BC Liberal government has an excellent budget record - in comparison to the NDP the results are telling and the contrast clear.
Compare and Contrast the BC Liberal Record for Yourself...
Overall Promises and Results
| NDP Record |
BC Liberal Record |
|
Campaign commitment:
“We will not spend more than British Columbians can afford." (NDP Platform 1991)
- Introduced 5 separate fiscal management plans - not one target outlined in those plans were met.
- In nearly every category - deficits, debt management and spending - the NDP missed their promises, year after year.
- Introduced 8 consecutive deficit budgets, including two "fudge-it" budgets.
- Tax and spend policies reduced BC to “have-not” status.
|
Campaign commitments:
"Honestly balance the budget, without cutting funding for health care and education"
"Pass real Balanced Budget legislation"
"Introduce a dramatic cut in personal income taxes"
- Met or exceeded every significant budget target.
- Deficit/Surplus targets were exceeded in every budget.
- Significant tax reductions throughout the term.
- Debt targets were exceeded in every budget.
- Spending targets were met in every budget, including significant
- funding increases in health care and education.
|
Debt
| NDP Record |
BC Liberal Record |
- Doubled taxpayer supported debt in less than a decade.
- Increasing debt resulted in $2.6 billion a year being spent on interest costs.
- Debt-GDP ratio increased dramatically - by 20% in less than a decade.
|
- Provided a record $1.7 billion pay-down of debt.
- Debt-GDP ratio has decreased by over 10% and will continue to go down over the next three years.
|
Deficit/Surplus
| NDP Record |
BC Liberal Record |
- Left a $3.8 billion structural deficit.
- Countless missed budget forecasts and two “fudge-it” budgets.
- After 8 consecutive deficit budgets, the NDP balanced budgets 2 times in a decade - once due to windfall energy returns from California's energy crisis and once due to accounting changes.
|
- 2 consecutive balance budgets under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
- Near record surplus of $1.7 billion in the 2004/05 fiscal year - a record for BC.
|
Taxation
| NDP Record |
BC Liberal Record |
- BC had the highest personal income tax rates in Canada.
- Imposed $2 billion worth of new taxes on everything from personal to corporate income.
- Fees, royalties and taxes had increased roughly 1.5 times faster than British Columbians’ pre-tax incomes.
|
- Introduced significant tax relief - for net relief of over $1.5 billion.
- Significantly improved the competitiveness of BC industries, leading to economic renewal and leading Canada in job creation.
730,000 low income British Columbians will pay lower taxes - including 330,000 who will now pay no tax. |
Spending
| NDP Record |
BC Liberal Record |
- In the 1992-1999 period, the government increased spending from $17.2 billion to $22.2 billion - over 30% increase. Spending increased faster than the ability to pay for programs.
- NDP Finance Minister Paul Ramsey admitted they had made no provision for paying for all of the spending commitments they made in the run-up to the 2001 election. On Page 95 of the 2001 Budget Report: “Fully funding all these pressures would not be possible given the forecast increase in revenue."
|
- Provided a clear plan to get spending under control, protect and increase funding for health care and education, and balance the budget.
- Increased funding in health care by $2.4 billion since 2001.
Increased education funding by hundreds of millions of dollars. |
Credit Ratings
| NDP Record |
BC Liberal Record |
- Two credit rating downgrades and the worst fiscal record in Canada during the 1990s.
- Significant interest cost increases - hundreds of millions - resulted from the downgrades.
|
- Credit upgrades from Standard & Poors.
- Significant interest cost savings.
|
