The recent global economic slump caused a steep plunge in Ontario government tax revenues, pushing the province's deficit for 2008-09 to $6.4 billion.

The Ministry of Finance said the recent recession caused a 0.5 per cent contraction in Ontario's GDP in 2008.

The government originally projected a shortfall of $500-million but revised it last spring to forecast $3.9-billion deficit.

But, due to dropped corporate tax revenues, deficit soared to $6.4 billion for the period of 1-year to March 31, 2009. It may be noted here that corporate tax revenues dropped 48.1 per cent in 2008-09.

Speaking on the issue, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said, "Corporate taxes are always very volatile, but none of us has ever seen anything like this."

Figures released by the Finance ministry showed that the personal income-tax revenue stood at $24.7 billion, slightly less than the projected $25.2 billion. Overall government revenues dropped to $90.5 billion.

Last spring, the Liberals projected $18.5-billion deficit for 2009-10, but that figure is also expected to soar.