Federal gov't still in surplus as business taxes fall

Tumbling corporate tax revenues and rising spending on programs such as employment insurance pushed the federal government's surplus down to $1.3 billion over the April-February period.

The Finance Department said Friday that the surplus for the first 11 months of the government's fiscal year was down from $12.2 billion for the same period of the previous fiscal year.

For February, the surplus was $823 million, down from $3 billion in February 2008.

In its lastest monthly monthly report, the department said corporate income tax revenues fell over the first 11 months of the fiscal yearby almost 25 per cent year-over-year to $27.4 billion.

In February alone, government corporate revenue was down 44 per cent year-over-year to $3.2 billion.

Personal income tax revenue grew by by 3.9 per cent to $105.5 billion for the April-February period. In February, personal income taxes grew from February 2008 by $30 million to almost $9.7 billion.

The effects of the current recession also showed up on the spending side as EI payments grew by 9.6 per cent to more than $14.1 billion.

The government's transfer to Human Resources and Skills Development shot up by by more than 30 per cent to $2.1 billion.