I do know that the tax cuts are coming mostly from the surplus, but by
reducing that surplus (or eliminating it) for what is likely purely ideological
reasons has the potential for leaving the government short of cash should it
need it. It's not like the government can't use the extra to pay down the debt
in any event. I believe the true purpose of the cuts is to reduce the surplus so
that the federal government is unable to restore any social programs that
may have existed prior to the budget cutting hysteria of the '90s and not to
help out struggling manufacturers in Ontario.

As a side note, talking with one of my co-workers, the buying votes aspect of
the GST cut seems to be working, at least on my co-worker. I was unable to
convince them that a cut to their income tax would be far more effective for
them than a cut to the GST. Sigh...