Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has unveiled a “rosier” picture of the province’s finances.

He said the deficit will be $15-billion this year, $300-million lower than previous estimates and he’s predicting a surplus in five years.

Not only has this year’s deficit dropped, Ontario expects to have a $500-million surplus by fiscal 2017-18.

Part of the reason is the new NDP-inspired tax on incomes over $500,000 a year. The tax was brought in order to win the NDP support for the provincial budget.

Duncan said “every nickel” generated by the new tax will go towards the deficit and help get the province to balance more quickly than planned.

He also said that doesn’t mean new taxes are the solution.

“We do have a very progressive tax system, not like the U.S.,” he said. “We believe that a competitive tax system remains important.”

He said changes to the federal government’s budget, introduced two days after Ontario’s, also saved the province some money.

Conservative finance critic Peter Shurman likes that the deficit is shrinking but says there are other ways to do it.

“Our prime method is you stop spending like a drunken sailor.”