The mini-Budget released by the Coalition Government today leaves many questions unanswered, said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “Despite the Incoming Government calling for clarity on existing spending, the mini-Budget today does not provide any analysis of the tax cut or spending programme of the incoming Government.
“The Mini-Budget doesn’t provide any new analysis of the spending cuts being required of government departments, nor how they are to be achieved. It doesn’t provide a fiscal strategy. In short, New Zealanders will have to wait until May 2024 to understand what is being changed.
“The government is claiming that it is cutting $1.5 billion of spending per year. Of that $1.5 billion, a third are savings commitments made by the previous government. A further $0.4bn are cuts which have already been committed to funding Early Childcare support. So only $0.6bn of the $1.5bn is new. $1bn of immediate cuts is money that comes from reductions to the transport budget – which is paid for by fuel taxes.
“The Government has claimed that it is delivering fiscal responsibility, but in fact it has taken money from climate change to deliver tax cuts for landlords and it’s taking $676m from welfare payments.
“How will that help deliver the legislated child poverty targets, or make the cost of living easier for low income families?
“The announcements today leave much still to be explained. There appears to still be a debate within government about when key planks of the tax cut package will be delivered.
“There is nothing in this package to help with the cost of living. New Zealanders have to wait to find out what the plan is. The Government should be making this clear today.”
