elesmere
15.11.06, 14:30
Kanada okazuje sie jest bardzo zadluzona i nie wystarczy kopac dziury w ziemi
zeby splacic.
Government debt estimated at $2.7 trillion
Nov. 14, 2006. 08:54 PM
CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — Total government debt in Canada is $2.7 trillion and each Canadian
taxpayer owes $171,032 in federal, provincial, and local liabilities,
according to a report released Tuesday by The Fraser Institute.
The report by the independent public policy organization says federal,
provincial, and local governments have accumulated $798 billion in direct debt
and more than $2.7 trillion in total government liabilities. Total liabilities
include direct debt and programs that the government has committed to provide,
such as old age security and medicare.
Net direct debt — liabilities minus assets — of all three levels of government
fell from $832 billion to $798 billion between 1999-2000 and 2003-2004.
However, the report said, this is a miniscule decline compared to the growth
of Canada's debt since 1990-1991 when our net debt stood at $533 billion.
Niels Veldhuis, senior research economist at the Fraser Institute and
co-author of the report, said, "The decline in direct government debt is
certainly a welcome development. However, the greatest concern for taxpayers
is the growing unfunded liabilities associated with programs such as old age
security and medicare."
The report says the unfunded liabilities of medicare, old age security and the
Canada Pension Plan total $1.5 trillion and have increased by 19.7 per cent
during the five-year period covered in the study. The unfunded liability of
Medicare alone grew by more than 28.5 per cent between 1999 and 2003.
Among the provinces, the report says, Ontario carries the largest total
liabilities per person at $92,490, followed by Quebec ($88,778) and Alberta
($87,630). Prince Edward Island has the smallest total government liabilities
per capita at $64,841.
With the exception of Alberta, all provinces have total liabilities greater
than 200 per cent of annual gross domestic product. The report states that if
the government of Quebec, which has the largest total liabilities compared to
GDP, taxed 100 per cent of all income, it would still take more than two and a
half years to pay off all of its debt and program obligations.
