Government budgets used to be about micro-managing things like tax hikes increasing the prices of cigarettes & beer & petrol. They’re still about micro-managing, with some subtle touches.
Read more →Budget
Joyce lifts infrastructure intentions and talks new operating mechanisms
New finance minister Steven Joyce looks to have increased the annual allocation to capital infrastructure spending from $900 million to $4 billion for the 2016-17 financial year, with the promise of upping the budget for the following 3 years by $4.3 billion.
Read more →Crown operating deficit slashed again
The Government cut its operating deficit before gains & losses by more than half in the June year, from a $9.2 billion deficit in 2012 to a $4.4 billion deficit, after collecting more tax and reducing core Crown expenses below forecast.
Read more →English talks asset sales to fund social infrastructure
Published 20 May 2011 Main points in the Budget Finance Minister Bill English delivered yesterday: Net debt to stay below 30% of gdpReturn to surplus in 2015Government to resume NZ Super contribution 2016$5.5 billion Canterbury recovery fund$5.2 billion public operating savings identified$4 billion redirected to new social initiativesGovernment to reduce ownership in 4 SOEs & […]
Read more →The property tax changes
Published 21 May 2010 Finance Minister Bill English & Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said in the Budget that changes to the tax treatment of investment property would increase fairness and help rebalance the economy towards productive investment. Property tax measures include: denying depreciation deductions for buildings, such as rental housing & office buildings, with […]
Read more →Budget aims for faster growth
Published 21 May 2010 Finance Minister Bill English said yesterday his 2010 Budget focuses squarely on faster growth, helping families get ahead and setting a credible path for getting back to surplus sooner. But even on this plan, a surplus is a long way off. He said it also delivered the biggest reform of […]
Read more →Budget “as inadequate as a lone chopstick”, says NZ Institute
Published 29 May 2009 New Zealand Institute researcher Chye-Ching Huang said last night the Budget wouldn’t be enough to springboard New Zealand out of the recession. “Going into this Budget, New Zealand was not just facing a possible ratings downgrade due to the spectre of a Government debt explosion. Even before being hit by the […]
Read more →Super fund gets some money though it doesn’t exist yet
$600 million earmarked in first year New Zealand’s great savings debate — plenty of puffery and not so much saving — is far from over, but Finance Minister Michael Cullen has taken positive action in the Budget to start the proposed NZ Superannuation Fund. He’s earmarked $600 million to sit in the Government’s debt management […]
Read more →Pitfalls in blindly following Australia
Australia superficially better, but Cullen says to look at detail Australia’s Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, dropped the rate of corporate tax from 33% to 30% this week, which naturally prompted corporates here to believe New Zealand’s government should do the same thing. ASB Bank noted in its market report, however, that government revenue accounts for […]
Read more →GDP growth forecast is 2.6%
Treasury sees quick US recovery Treasury estimates the economy has expanded by 2.3% in the March 2001 year and says gross domestic product growth in the next year should be 2.6%. The forecast has been lowered since Treasury’s December update because of weaker world growth prospects. The consensus on trading partners’ growth has fallen from […]
Read more →Mature people working here
Doing better with the big numbers Even if the Budget’s not perfect, Finance Minister Michael Cullen wanted it to be seen as the work of mature people. That’s extraordinary in itself. Mostly, in western government, the element of bribing the masses is paramount. Being seen as a prudent fiscal and economic manager would be way […]
Read more →“Enhancing transformation” theme for growth framework
Sparking new ideas — and acting on them A segment of Budget announcements labelled “Enhancing economic transformation and growth” won some immediate criticism for inadequacy. In some areas the money is still small, and inadequate for a complete solution. What I like about it, though, is that the framework to develop schemes is put in […]
Read more →Cullen performs like the job’s forever his
Budget restarts progress from around 1985 A budget with a capital B used to be the occasion for a malevolent smack in the place you least suspected it would happen, by a government whose aim was to deprive you of something you cherished, called money. In election year the same malevolent governors would smile at […]
Read more →Key $ points in Budget
Nation’s net debt heading for 18% The Government projects that its operating surplus for the June 2001 year will be $641 million, and says spending is at the lowest level as a proportion of gross domestic product since 1977. Other highlights of Treasurer and Finance Minister Michael Cullen’s Budget are: Net debt should fall to […]
Read more →300 more state houses in next year
Programme includes help to build on multiple-owned land Commitment to build extra community houses and state houses was included in a budget category labelled “Investing in people”. Under Housing, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the Government would provide $19.5 million over four years for 125 new community houses and extend $4.5 million of rent relief […]
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