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Nova Scotia forecasting a $481.7 million deficit, wiping out previous surplus

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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 81.7 million for this fiscal year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

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.

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The Canadian Press

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