Source: The Canadian Press

Numbers from the Alberta government suggest last year’s recession was a lot tougher on residents than anyone anticipated.

The second-quarter fiscal update shows that income tax revenue this year is likely to be more than $1.1 billion less than expected.

Finance officials say that’s because tax assessments turned out to be much lower than projected in 2009, a year in which Alberta’s overall GDP shrank by 5%.

The government also spent more money than budgeted to battle floods, forest fires and the mountain pine beetle.

That’s somewhat offset by healthy sales of Crown leases to energy companies, which are expected to bring in over $1.4 billion more than projected.

The bottom line is that this year’s deficit is expected to rise by $257 million to about $5 billion — a shortfall which will be covered by Alberta’s sustainability fund.