Public Accounts committee  We could provide an estimate of taxes paid by income cohort.

Public Accounts committee  The cost of the GST reduction is $6 billion in 2008-09.

Public Accounts committee  I don't have the numbers with me, but again, we can provide them to you. The other dimension to the GST cut that I would flag is that there is a low-income GST credit, which was designed to offset the cost of GST payments for low-income Canadians. When the GST rate was reduced i

Public Accounts committee  We absolutely can give you information on GST paid by income cohort.

Public Accounts committee  The surplus in the EI account in 2006-07 was roughly $1 billion, if one excludes interest earnings on the account. That reflects significantly stronger labour markets than were expected at the time the rate was set. For example, in September 2006, which was the basis for the 2007

Public Accounts committee  The government in fact issues a debt strategy, which was an annex to the last budget. But to go to your question, by and large, the manner in which the government pays down debt is not to renew maturing bonds and treasury bills. There are bond buybacks, but those are more to---

Public Accounts committee  Department of Finance projections.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, I think that once again, we need to start by making a distinction. The type of errors and adjustments Ms. Fraser was referring to are really adjustments that are highlighted when the current year is finalized. These are not errors linked to forecasts as such. Secon

Public Accounts committee  I believe so.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  Just as a point of clarification right at the beginning, the tax receivable number largely reflects the fact that as of March 31, we had received in cash a certain amount of money. But there was another amount that was in fact calculated and verified in June that showed that the

Public Accounts committee  I think probably the most straightforward or simplest way to express the flexibility would be to think of an average effective interest rate on debt charges, with one proviso of about 5%. So, more or less, with debt reduction in the order of $100 billion, if the debt had been hig

Public Accounts committee  It is true that over the same period the debt has been reduced, interest rates have come down. To throw out a number to put that in context, in 1996 debt charges represented roughly 30% of revenues; they're down to something like 14%. Now that we're in an era of lower interest ra

Public Accounts committee  There's no international standard that I'm aware of. In fact, I think it would depend on the country-specific circumstances. Tim O'Neill did a review of the Department of Finance's forecasting practices about two years ago. In that report there was an estimate done for Mr. O'Ne

Government Operations committee  The difference lies in the fact that, in one case, figures are given on a cash accounting basis, that is the amounts that are actually spent during the year. Those amounts are higher. Table 3.7 shows the amounts on an accrual accounting basis. That shows the amortized costs of