Federal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale may be about to shift his department's long-standing policy on revenue windfalls and use a portion of future surpluses to cut taxes.

One week after Goodale announced federal coffers were brimming with a $9.1 billion surplus in 2003, private economists are predicting Ottawa's extra revenues could add up to tens of billions in the next six years.

Pressed to explain what he plans to do with the money, Goodale told reporters outside the House of Commons that the government plans to return to the 50/50 formula adopted when Canada ended decades of annual deficits. Since abandoned, that policy called for a division of the surplus between spending, debt retirement and tax cuts.

Goodale said he's "very interested" in cutting taxes for "low- and middle-income Canadians in particular," as long as it's balanced with the other objectives.

"Achieving that fair-minded balance has served the country well and I think we will continue to aim for that objective."

Goodale's comments came in reaction to the first economic forecast released since he announced his surplus figure.

In its report released Tuesday, Toronto-Dominion Bank said the feds are on track for $60.2 billion in total surpluses over the next 12 years. When promised commitments, cuts and unforeseen contingencies are taken into account, the bank says it would likely be closer to $25 billion.

If the 50/50 formula were applied to those figures, Canadians could expect annual tax savings of about $2.5 billion.

"That's serious money," TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond told The Globe and Mail. "It's not a huge tax cut, but you'd feel it."

Goodale's latest fiscal surplus brought to seven the number of consecutive years the government's books have been in the black.

According to federal accounting rules, surpluses are automatically used to pay down the debt which now stands at $510 billion.

Goodale admitted on CTV's Question Period his government's approach to creating fiscal forecasts needs some fixing.

"I would like to have firmer and clearer numbers earlier in the process," he said, "so that we actually have the hard arithmetic, as much as we can have it, before the end of the fiscal year."

A review of the way government sets its projections is expected with the release of its annual economic update next month.