Finance Minister Diana Whalen fields a question as she presents the Nova Scotia fiscal update in Halifax on Thursday, Dec.19, 2013. The province is forecasting a deficit of $481.7 million for this fiscal year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
December 19, 2013 - 10:06 AM
HALIFAX - Nova Scotia is forecasting a deficit of $481.7 million for this fiscal year as the Liberals announced today that a surplus predicted by the former NDP government has been wiped out.
Finance Minister Diana Whalen is partly blaming the deficit on a $318 million unfunded liability charge that is being added to the 2013-14 budget for the public service pension plan, as well as a drop in government revenue.
She says revenue from personal income taxes is down by $71.7 million while HST revenue is down by $30.2 million than was predicted in the spring.
Whalen says revenue is down by a total of $157.8 million from the budget forecast while spending is forecast to be $328.5 million higher.
The NDP forecast a surplus of $18.3 million in the last fiscal update in August, shortly before former premier Darrell Dexter called October's provincial election.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013