The Budget is done and dusted and on the face of it, National successfully delivered on its election promise to provide tax relief to New Zealanders by lowering tax thresholds.
The current tax thresholds were established in 2010 by John Key’s National Government. The bottom rate was set at 10.5 percent for income up to $14,000, 17.5 percent from $14,001 to $48,000, 30 percent from $48,001 to $70,000, and 33 percent from $70,001.
In 2021 the Ardern Labour Government introduced a new top tax rate of 39 percent for those earning over $180,000. This continued the 30-year trend of using the top tax rate as a political football: the Lange Labour Government lowered the top rate from 66 percent to 48 percent then 33 percent in 1989; the Clark Labour Government raised it to 39 percent in 2000; the Key National Government dropped it to 38 percent then 33 percent in 2010.
None of our governments have indexed tax brackets to inflation. As a result, over the years there’s been a significant increase in the tax-take by stealth as wage and salary earners are pushed into higher tax brackets through pay rises and inflation.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Eric Crampton, Chief Economist at the New Zealand Initiative, explains the significant impact that this has had on working New Zealanders:
“Thanks to the effects of inflation, between 2011 and 2023, failure to index the income tax thresholds pulled about a million wage and salary earners from the bottom 10.5% tax bracket into the 17.5% range and another eight hundred thousand from the 17.5% range into the 30% tax bracket.
“It is hard to say how much the state has profited from the bipartisan refusal to automatically index the income tax thresholds. If you plug adjusted thresholds into Treasury’s tax calculator, you get a warning that the results are unreliable because the changes are too big.
“But with that caveat, the calculator tells you it’s in the order of $6.5 billion per year – compared to a world in which the bottom tax bracket continued to catch only the bottom 29% of earners, as it did in 2011, and in which the 33% bracket did not catch anyone in the bottom 86%.
“When National says that people are due for tax relief, they’re absolutely correct.”
The new tax threshold for the bottom 10.5 percent tax rate has now been lifted to $15,600. The 17.5 percent rate will apply to income from $15,601 to $53,500, 30 percent from $53,501 to $78,100, 33 percent from $78,101 to $180,000, and the top 39 percent rate from $180,001 is unchanged.
The Bill setting those new tax thresholds has now been passed into law and will take effect from 31 July 2024. Normally new tax rates apply from the beginning of a tax year, but in order to provide tax relief this year to reduce cost of living pressures, transitional rates are being applied that will take into account the higher rates before the law change.
National provided further tax relief in the Budget through a number of other measures including more support for working families with children through in-work tax credits and Working for Families payments.
Altogether, the tax relief package will cost almost $3.7 billion dollars this year, with a total of $14.8 billion over the three-year Budget period.
The lion’s share of the funding for tax cuts came from a line-by-line review of the Public Service to eliminate poor quality spending. Over the budgeted period “baseline savings not reprioritised to frontline agencies” amounted to almost $5 billion, with a further $3 billion coming from “closing Labour programmes”.
Since tax relief has been funded from a reduction in government spending, it has no impact on inflation. Budget forecasts show inflation continuing to decline from a height of 7.3 percent in 2022, to 4 percent at the start of this year, to below 3 percent in the September quarter. With inflation pressure easing, interest rates are predicted to fall from late 2024.
The combination of lower interest rates and lower taxes is expected to revive the economy, which is forecast to grow, albeit slowly, increasing 1.7 percent in the second half of 2024 and averaging 2.9 percent over the next three years.
The budget balancing act between the stimulus of tax cuts and the need to address critical issues in front-line service delivery, has seen substantial borrowing to rebuild health, education, law and order, and infrastructure. This has resulted in an increase in net core Crown debt to over 43 percent of GDP, with the cost of borrowing rising to $8.9 billion in the current financial year.
The Government’s short-term goal of reducing net core Crown debt to below 40 percent of GDP is not expected to be achieved during this forecast period. Their longer-term plan is to reduce it below 20 percent – the level it was before Covid – and to lower Labour’s debt ceiling from 50 percent of GDP back to its historic 40 percent target level.
While Government spending in the decade before Covid averaged $1.4 billion a year, post-Covid it exploded to an unsustainable $4.5 billion a year. Under Labour, core Crown expenses increased 84 percent, while revenue grew only 66 percent, creating an operating deficit that only returns to surplus in 2028.
When former Finance Minister Bill English was managing our economy out of the Global Financial Crisis, his long-term goal was to reduce government spending to 25 percent of GDP, to maximise economic growth and lift living standards.
What the Budget shows us is that while Labour inherited an economy that was in good shape in 2017, with government spending around 27 percent of GDP, within five years it had blown out to almost 35 percent, crowding out private enterprise and creating a recession.
In comparison, in the economic powerhouse of Singapore, government spending is well below 20 percent of GDP.
There are, of course, many differences between our similar-sized nations, but the main one is that Singapore’s individualised savings-based superannuation fund that provides health care and retirement annuities, is now worth over $500 billion dollars, and as a result, the amount the government needs to spend in these key areas is minimal.
This is in stark contrast to the situation we face in New Zealand, where the cost of healthcare and pensions in Budget 2024, accounts for almost 40 percent of all government spending.
Sir Roger Douglas outlined a solution to the systemic problems associated with the escalating costs of an aging population in his two-part alternative Budget series HERE and HERE. His vision to introduce a personalised superannuation savings scheme funded through tax reductions, would transform New Zealand’s economic future.
With no political parties offering viable solutions, if you are interested in joining our Reform Project, please make sure you have signed up HERE.
All in all, to overcome the financial shambles the Coalition inherited from Labour, they are adopting a disciplined approach: “The Government’s strategy for managing spending is to embed a culture of responsible spending, restore fiscal discipline, right-size the government’s footprint, and improve the efficiency and productivity of spending. The Government will make savings and reprioritisation a business-as-usual activity.”
The importance of this cannot be over-emphasised. Ministers need to be held to account for a continuing crack down on waste and on reducing the bloated public service. A closer look at Budget documents identifies a wide range of non-essential programmes designed to fulfil the former Labour Government’s agenda that should never have been undertaken.
In response to the Budget delivering tax cuts and increasing spending on core services, the Coalition Government has faced criticism from both left and right.
Some say the Budget did not go far enough in reducing wasteful spending and rebalancing the economy. They say government spending should have been cut, not increased.
Opponents were quick to say the Coalition should have spent more and not cut taxes.
Predictably, some of the strongest criticism was from separatists who claimed the Budget had nothing in it for Maori.
That, of course, is a lie – as is much of their rhetoric.
For a Government that pledged in their coalition agreements “to improve outcomes for all New Zealanders, and not advance policies that seek to ascribe different rights and responsibilities to New Zealanders on the basis of their race or ancestry”, far too many race-based initiatives are still being funded in Budget 2024.
The Coalition has given Te Matatini, which received $34 million over two years from Labour’s 2023 Budget for a regional kapa haka programme, a further $48.7 million over three years from 2025.
Their funding for Matariki events amounts to $3 million a year.
The Bilingual Towns and Cities Programme has been given $400,000 a year for anyone interested in adopting bilingual or te reo signage.
The $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund to invest in infrastructure with a focus on economic and climate resilience over the next three years is expected to benefit iwi throughout the regions.
The Maori Development Portfolio has received more than half a billion dollars in funding. That includes over $142 million to promote Maori language and culture, $64 million for Maori wellbeing, $56 million to improve Maori housing, $48 million to assist Maori to meet their aspirations, and $10 million to support Maori Tourism.
Whanau Ora – the quasi-government agency developed with iwi leaders to operate outside of the system of government accountability so the Auditor General is unable to monitor the spending of public money by Commissioning Agencies – received just over $182.3 million, up from $181.7 million last year.
The Office of Maori Crown Relations, Te Arawhiti, another agency set up with iwi leaders – to drive He Puapua and indoctrinate the Public and private sectors with a ‘Maori World View’ – will receive $42 million, only slightly down on last year’s $46 million.
This agency, which is also responsible for managing the Marine and Coastal Area Act claims process, hit the news last month for failing to administer claimant funding within budget. Each of the 585 applicants who have lodged customary title claims for New Zealand’s coastline are entitled to taxpayer funding of up to $458,000 for their cases. With so many opportunistic claimants and their armies of lawyers, it’s not surprising that the budget has been fully consumed. One upcoming hearing has so many participants it is expected to cost more than $16 million alone!
To sort out the financial mess, the Government has provided a one-off Budget appropriation of $17 million to pay outstanding bills. Going forward, the annual appropriation for funding all costs associated with the claims process has been capped at $12 million.
Does that sound like a Budget that had nothing in it for Maori?
In fact, the Budget bent over backwards accommodating Maori. A fair criticism is that it has done too much. For example, why should taxpayers be paying the legal fees of tribal groups who are claiming title to our coast, when the financial rewards for successful claims are massive?
And why aren’t the iwi who have become mega rich on the back of taxpayer paid settlements doing more to fund initiatives to help “their people” – or is it a matter of them keeping their hands in their pockets so taxpayers will keep on paying?
What is clear from Budget 2024 is that it is a fine line between stimulating the economy through tax cuts and rebuilding core front-line services through borrowing – and that’s what critics from the left and right have failed to recognise. This Government believes it can achieve both objectives and is not prepared to address one at the expense of the other.
The Coalition’s task of rebalancing the economy onto achievement, progress, and wealth creation has only just begun. They’ll need to keep a laser focus on eliminating wasteful spending and reducing the size of the State sector if the New Zealand economy is to really take off and deliver the prosperous future to which we all aspire.
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Do you give Budget 2024 the thumbs up or thumbs down?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Sadly Luxon, still wants to copy LABOUR. Why is National doing this? Also he gave IWI special funding, not a peep about this on lying M.S.M ?? | David |
| Luxon did not get the memo – cut out the apartheid and special treatment for Maori and start treating all NZers equally. This budget clearly does not accord with the premises in the coalition agreements and Luxon/National are taking the proverbial. Time for Seymour and Peters to kick in and get serious because time is a ticking. | Doug |
| Why is there still so much funding for separatist Maori agendas? We are all New Zealanders with the same rights and duties. Furthermore as a small exporting nation at the bottom of the world, it is a huge advantage to be native speakers of english – not pidgin. Some 85% of world trade is conducted in english. When is National going to have the guts to cut the frigging funding for this destructive separatist nonsense? | Wendy |
| It’s a start, but you have a long way to go guys!! | Peter K |
| For the reasons you stated. We need to stop giving taxpayers money to Maori, simply for ” being Maori” (oops, I meant ” identifying as Maori”, whatever the hell that means!) | Alastair |
| After reading all the comments, it was very easy to give it a thumbs down. people of NZ do not know a fraction of what is going on behind the curtain.. IT is about time these remarks were published, so that ALL NZers can see the truth! | William |
| Rather a Coalition than a Labour budget but I have deep concerns with race-based funding. National seems to be continuing the apartheidization of New Zealand. | Monica |
| Not tough enough really. We thought all race based agendas were not a happening thing but alas it looks otherwise. | Susan |
| Tax cuts have never worked… and never will, when it does trickle down? the small pittance returns are gobbled up by the people that don’t need it!! | David |
| If we stopped throwing billions of dollars at maori, we would have enough for cancer drugs and a whole lot of other things for everyone. I voted Act and grateful they are there to make a difference that Luxon is too scared to touch. | Carole |
| This is a labour-light National budget. Still far too much spending on maori wonderfulness. Still a lot of public servants, far more than when labour took over in 2020 Why have they not been trimmed? There is much more to do, and it is obvious that Act and NZF have little input. Te reo Luckless and Witless concocted this budget shambles. | Gavin |
| Why do we still give amounts of money to fund Maori programs when health and education are so wanting. Our prime minister still wants to cuddle up to the Maori elite and is prepared to sacrifice key issues. I have just spent three weeks in and South Korea what a difference. No ram raids no race issues and well run economies. | ken |
| a 2 thirds because of the ridiculous amounts given to maori coastal claimswhich should never started the people own or have strwardship (.,actually God says He own s all the earth and we manage it just a point. | anthony |
| A small thumb because of the move to one law for all and the changes being made in Health. We need more to make a transition to a world centre for research and development. | Perce |
| Better than Labour but money to Maori is sickening… | Peter |
| Too much much funding of maori stuff. its unbelievable the MACA and other provisions every tax payer is funding for a small portion of one race that is 20% of NZ population. Maori aspirations funding, my goodness the hypocrisy! | Stan |
| when will these politicians learn the public of this country is sick of funding Maori…VERY disappointed in Luxon. | Peter |
| A great start | David |
| Cut off the graft, recognize iwi for what it is: fraud! Shut the door to Moral Hazard, close out iwi legal bootlegging. | Norman |
| Splitting NZ into a race based land is undemocratic and leads to division. Maori are not indigenous to NZ. | mark |
| NZ is still being separated by race,,,,the same as Labour attempted to do. | mark |
| Too much money leaving town with Whites leaving for Australia. The Government panicking and trying to replace them with immigrants from India, China & the Philippines who bring not a lot with them in most cases except their Dna. Taxpayers to object to their taxes being given to Maori and especially without proper accountability. Luxon looking like he’s playing the white vote in support of Maori. It could become a White avalanch in emigration. As for the foreshore and seabed it’s looking a bloody sight better to indulge yourself shoreside in Aus and leave them sucking the kina. | Terry |
| Not enough cuts to Govt services/budgets. To much in handouts to maori. | kerry |
| They need to totally scrap all race-based initiatives. | David |
| 8 | Hilma |
| You have to Congratulate Ms Willis and her Team for a very positive Budget that extended out to help all it possibly could in circumstances where the previous marxist Govt laid a set of Poison Chalice operations specifically to create socialist media opportunities to disguise their relentless disruption. I expect we can not get debt under 40% of GDP before we dismantle the racist Maori seats, dismantle the ToW Tribunal, dismantle the claim/handout nonsense. and effected redress of the welfare handout regime. Too many grasping for the productivity of too few. | Richard |
| Nothing about pro governance or He Papa | Denis |
| Number one. I do not trust the corporate”government”. Number two. They will never give you something that cannot be taken away by something else. Number three. It is without doubt that the puppet government are directed to put in place systems that will progressively impoverished the popular, all the time gaslighting them that they are getting a good deal. I believe this to be true, and you can talk all the number you like and this is the result. Local government, same applies all the way. Prove me wrong! | Neil |
| Prioritising citizens over non life supporting ideology. | Carl |
| No.. All smoke and mirrors, sadly. By the time the ‘trickle down theory’ ends, the people in most need get very little, thats’ how the ‘PLANTATION OPERATES! | David |
| Still too much spending on Maori initiatives and not enough cut back on public spending | Chris |
| A National budget – not a Coalition budget. Too much money for Maori issues. At some point, this has to be addressed in the interests of equality for all and NZ’s unity. | mary |
| This isn’t what I voted for | Andi |
| What the country needed, but could have gone further | Tony |
| It’s moving the country in the right direction in many ways and quietly overriding the race biassed radicals and lunatic Greens. | Donals |
| I did not realise that this government were financing the he pua pua rip off plus many other maori schemes. I`m bigtime pissed off over this racist support for the so called maori wonderfulness. Am glad to see a vast majority on this forum feel the same. What to do? Luxon has to go,I was not surprised to read in an excellent column by Dianne on this forum re Luxon and Ardern. (read it) It rings true to me as Luxons action on the Christchurch Call re appointing Ardern seemed a little fishy to me at the time. There must be a group of National Party MPs who are non woke,non racist normal KIWIS who can take over the Nat Party and backup ACT and NZ FIRST. Their first task will be to AXE this Foreshore and seabed CRAP. This to show they are serious about the 180 degree U turn NEW ZEALAND needs. As has been said many times in recent times KIWIS voted for ONE NEW ZEALAND ONE PEOPLE. This government has let us down badly. So whatever your nationality, skin colour including middle maori remember we are all KIWIS but we need to get together on this. To be all KIWIS we all need to be colourblind and then we can kick this racist bull-hit all the way to Texas. | Brian |
| Tax cuts is not why New Zealanders voted for change. The reason people for change was to change course the country was being taken. Namely Co-governance. | Chandra |
| Good start, but maori still getting huge amounts of money with no accountability, while NZrs are dying fof lack of drug funding. Maori radicals and corporations dont give a shit about the rest of us. They want,want and more want. They will never be happy until they control all of NZ and recieve all our tax money. I will never pay them to go to any beach or fish any coastline in NZ. Stop paying them tax money to take over all our foreshore seabed and sea. Outragious! | Kevan |
| Nicola needed to do a Ruth Richardson | Robin |
| Discrimination alive and well | Wayne |
| Still to much funding on Maori projects the allocated funding should be half of that allowed | anthony |
| The budget has taken too much of a soft line with respect to spending on Maori. | Gerald |
| Overall I think the Government did well under challenging inherited circumstances. But I do not agree with taxpayer money funding Maori court claims. It puts their opponents in a position of disadvantage. | Dianne |
| All those payments to Maori should be eliminated. National is still soft on Maori. I don’t know why, Maori don’t vote for them,. | Colin |
| Huge amounts of race based funding, which this govt said it would stop. Broken promises of extra funding for Pharmac to pay for cancer drugs. This govt is a total disaster. | Trevor |
| I consider that the State sector may be a danger the overall economy. It must be strictly controlled, if not, it will be a great danger to the economic health and growth of our country. | Brian |
| About the best you could wish for given the current financial climate | Lawrie |
| I think that they did well considering the financial disaster that Ardern and her student union clowns pretending to be Politicians left the country in. | Allan |
| Too much ear marked for Maori that money should be for those who need it like health care for all. We appear to still be a country of apartheid. | Vaughan |
| Why have hundreds of millions in handouts to maori? | Kevin |
| It wasn’t a budget for change. So much waste still happening | Roy |
| Too kind to wasteful spending on so called Maori organisations that have not delivered benefits to impoverished Maori families and better social and economic outcomes that are sustainable, instead of addressing real need and causes of deprivation in a colour blind way,and making a real attempt to identify properly the real causes of said social and economic deprivation. The writings of Prof John Robinson come to mind as do the observations of new NZ First MP Casey Costello. | jim |
| NEED TO SEE MORE PUBLICITY TO ALL THESE HAND OUTS TO ALL THESE GROUPS AND DETAILS HOW SPENT | LEO |
| If all the huge payments to Maori interests are going ahead, I am shocked! I thought all this Us and them was going to STOP! | Sylvia |
| So another APARTHEID budget then, from our saviors on the right? National/Labour – just two cheeks of the same arse. | neil |
| It is time that we stop subsidising Maori Affairs and let the iwis to deal with Maori issues. The budget should have addressed all races equally. Also the adjustment of tax brackets is absolutely ridiculous. And it is not about how much it will cost tax payers but about keeping the people economic purchase power. Prices have increased a lot more than the adjustment and keeping the 39% tax bracket is stealing from people who spent years and thousand of dollars at university and further education. People who earn over half a million dollars should not pay more than 30% tax This would amount to $150,000 in tax and this is more than enough. We are not competitive and people shouldn’t have to work over 5 months for free to fund government | Peteca |
| got too much for Maori! | Gerhard |
| Started New Zealand back on to the road to financial recovery. Big Tick | frank |
| I’d like to see the Waitangi tribunal abolished and no more money given. We have to stop apologising. Enough is enough. | Valda |
| Thinning the bloated bureaocracy is a good thing. | Ian |
| BUT! They need to aggressively eliminate all racist nonsense and leftist programs. | ken |
| Govt have an inherited catchup to regain. Thanks red queens and co. Most like their handouts and forgot about pay backs. That time is here as painful as it all will be. One wouldn’t run a household like Labour did to us.. | mike |
| overall thumbs up, BUT why are taxpayers still funding “Maori initiatives” Particularly their lawyers costs to fight for the coastal rights that should be for all New Zealanders. It’s like paying for the enimies army! | Rita |
| More of a fudget than a budget. Thats the problem when you owe your lobbyiests you are no longer able to be your own person and make sensible and meaningful long term changes. | Gary |
| Too much for Maori who already have had far too much | John |
| 50/50 | Christine |
| Too much allocated for tribal claims for seashore and seabed. | Evan |
| The Waitangi Tribunal has long been a taker and yet never been closed down. It is well past its use by date as it only supports a minority group of this Nations population | Ken |
| Disgraceful spending on rich tribes that want our beaches and rivers. | William |
| Far too much money given to Maori. These things should be funded out of Treaty Of Waitangi claim money. I’m sick of the constant handouts at the rest of the countries expense!! | Heather |
| Once again, a minority has been favoured over and above all else. Billions of taxpayers money wasted on building apartheid….time to leave ! | Julie |
| When will the Coalition get the courage to stop this wasteful spending on Maori. No matter how much the tax payer coughs up it will never be enough. Knock it on the head. | Ronmac |
| Apart from funding the Coastal claims, I think they have done a great job. What a mess they have inherited once again! | Angela |
| Very biased Budget | Laurel |
| Too much for Maori | Catherine |
| It will always get the thumbs down from me while the govt. gives out taxpayers money to racists. | John |
| Having just read the article where the UN/WEF have told New Zealand that kiwis will be paying.Jacinda Ardern expenses vehicle costs. This was all decided before the election under the guise Christchurch’s call. But the name of all this transaction will be changed so no one will be able to get the real facts. Luxon was aware and approved it. There is a lot kiwi’s don’t know about this prime minister . His close connection to Ardern. While ceo of air nz he was Ardern’s PR for business.. and after reading the break down of who got what in the budget no surprises of the billions $$$ to Maori . No wonder nothing left for cancer drugs. Luxon we voted for national, we trusted you, Not ever again. | Dianne |
| Not the best but ok for first timers trying to do the right thing | Nick |
| The Coalition has betrayed it supporters when it continues funding race base policy. | Rex |
| Still too much Govt. spend in relation to GDP Maori still robbing us | Bruce |
| You can only do what you can, particularly when the previous Labour led Government left this country in financial dire straights. | Heather |
| Given the disastrous state the labour government left,I would say that Willis has done just enough u go to get a pass mark. This will have to be a lead into more changes into how the country is run and prioritize where our money gets spent in future and who gets what etc. This needs to be the start of reform on how money gets spent in NZ. | Peter |
| money where it is needed | gerard |
| STOP apartheid. | Mick |
| The tax funding system that Sir Roger is alluding to Similar to Singapore was experienced by our company and worked very well – It should be looked at seriously. Maori funding has to be done for the right reasons. Remembering it upholds that we are ONE people no racial results. Some of the Maori world view values are NOT in their own interests and are false. Not to be funded by those who have nothing to gain by continuing to support. The Maori holiday is one such very questionable event. | Maurice |
| they tried | noel |
| Needs a Javier Milei approach – a chainsaw policy, starting with the endless Maori gravy train | Mark |
| But with many reservations! | Albert |
| The current coalition failed to take advantage of their first budget and deliver real measures to reduce those costs that come from continued race based policies. | Roger |
| I was very disappointed to hear that the government borrowed a lot of money to pay for these tax cuts. Also it benefits the wealthy families | Chris |
| No control over squandering money on maori tickets | Ian |
| I give it a 70% plus | Peter |
| Repeat of previous years, slight tinkering with tax. Uniparty policies. | Andrew |
| Too much allocated to raced based, Maori agencies and causes. This money should be on all New Zealanders especially the funding of proven life saving cancer drugs and other medications that could improve the lives of New Zealanders living with many illnesses. | Cathy |
| Considering the state that the previous Government left us in financially they are doing OK but need to improve. Jacinda and the fat boy Robertson should be charged with monetary mismanagement and imprisoned. | Steve |
| Initially I gave it the thumbs up but then reading through and seeing the outrageous amount the Maoris were getting on top of what them and the rest of the Country share, I am staggered. John Tamihere and his elite building an Empire and stuff anyone else. He would be, I imagine, collecting from every Maori organisation which has been given money through this Budget. This has to stop. | Anne |
| We still subscribe to the race or tribal based policies. There are no Maoris left. The ones who demand Maori based privileges must realise that they stand on the shoulders of their predominantly colonial ancestors and show no respect at all for them. I fear we, as a society are to dumb to think rationally and are letting the wolves devourer our collective wealth. | Leonard |
| It was the budget given the fiscal constraints of the economy. | Gavin |
| As a lifelong Labour voter and now a first time National voter I am totally discouraged. I voted National as I believed that they were serious with regard to “NZ is one people” and that Maori will receive the same as all other New Zealand citizens. As your review shows little has been done to rein in Maori privilige. The increasing number of NZ’ers claiming to be Maori when the blood line is less, with most considerably less, than 50% makes a mockery of their claims to be special and priviliged. Claims on the Coast, to which I have contributed to a fund to fight the claims, is a prime example of racism to which this coalition Government continues to finance. | Phil |
| Little difference to what Labour would have put out. Why are the squeezed middle not getting fully adjusted tax brackets when the Maori 70b contributes little to NZ as a whole.. Sick of iwi on the gravy train ripping N Z tax payers and demanding more | Glen S |
| Basically ok although I would like to have seen a bigger reduction in Government employees from back office functions back to the 2017 level to assist repaying debt earlier. | Chris |
| It was pretty average | Kate |
| There is nothing original to set up future funding to cover citizens | Clem |
| They are tinkering | Kevin |
| Apart from the divisive payments to Maori. We are all New Zealanders, albeit of different cultures. | Jane |
| Public Service cuts were not enough. There are whole useless departments that need eliminating. Someone needs to account for the hundreds of millions for Maori that never improve anything. Where does it all go? It seems it is a bottomless pit of non-achievement. | John |
| Shouldn’t have given all that money to Maori | Gavin |
| Broken their promise everyone to be treated equally. The amount of money to Maori is outrageous. | Gail |
| You have highlighted the wasted ‘Maori’ spending very well. And don’t forget all the CFRT funding they get to go to court. | Paul |
| Too little too late. We are doomed I tell ys doomed unless waste is slashed. | Grant |
| Wasteful spending of taxpayers hard earned $ continues apace. The bloated public sector with its collective snouts deep in the public trough is an insult to all net taxpayers. | Richard |
| The budget was over generous when it came to shelling out money to Maori. One country one people no special treatment due to race needs to apply. | Allan |
| Not enough done to reverse the previous Government direction. Maori must realize that they cannot pursue their favorite interests using tax money. | Robin |
| We need a Dr. Beeching or his descendant to eliminate 90% of the bureaucrats | chris |
| Their efforts to Balance the books is not appreciated by the political parties who believe in borrow and hope or that money grows on trees.of course, the opinion so called news reporters w takes money to buy bread. | Akan |
| Going well, just a pity that they have not screwed these greedy Maori enough. They are New Zealanders and remember that | Tom |
| There is no difference between labour and the newly elected government, They both are taking NZ to serfdom under the heels of the global elite | Alan |
| Maybe harsh in fairness the books maybe so bad that major correction could collapse the economy. I’m experiencing a sharp down turn | Greg |
| And about time to sort our NZ finances out. | Mike |
| WE must live within our means. | Barry |
| As the article said, there is a way to go before the Country is in the black financially. It is time Maoris started to take responsibility for a lot of their spending. | Dennis |
| They didn’t go far enough in eliminating raciest spending | Ian |
| Close the Waitangi Tribunal and stop all race based funding | John |
| Well done Nicola! The adults are back in charge! | BRENT |
| Keynes and Galbraith, in a recession leave people something to live on and and some hope for the future. | Len |
| It only goes partway to solving the huge problems caused by paying iwi huge amounts to promote thier agenda of gaining co governance | Bryan |
| We voted this govt. to cut out all Moari special funding. Every one equal. Luxon is scared of them. | Wayne |
| More thumbs up than down, more if they had cut all race based spending. | Evan |
| A “D” grade for this with a “should have tried harder” comment. Many broken promises, and lacking backbone. Racist favouring of a particular group is just leading the country deeper into a hole from which it now seems likely we will never emerge. | Tony |
| Under the current Circumstances inherited from the last Clown show Government !! | Geoff |
| Too much spending on Maori initiatives. Us Tax payers are paying for the loss of our Marine and Coastal areas. | Marianne |
| Nothing done regarding tax brackets as they currently are. TIME to review them NOW… | Carl |
| No vision for the future, same old same old. | Eric |
| Mostly thumbs up but bad omission on cancer drug funding | Gillian |
| All costs associated with seabed and for shore claims should be paid for by the person or people making the claim, not by the crown. | Robert |
| They inherited financial chaos from the useless labour lot and are doing their very best to correct the situation | Sidwell |
| Too little trimming why have a Maori Authority when 40% of cabinet are Maori New Zealanders. All of them are New Zealanders | john |
| Funding for Matariki? Kapa haka?WHANAU ORA??? | Sheree |
| still need further reductions in govt spending added by last labour term | Colin |
| After reading all the handouts, it raises my blood pressure. A lot of handouts has nothing to do with our economy as a whole, has nothing to do with economic stimulus. Tighten the belt, nice to have vs need to have. Where does the govt. show equality in giving ?? | Henk |
| It is better than expected and better than that other mob could do. | Warren |
| Very disappointed at the unnecessary spending on Maori, and other items. We should be cutting down spending | Liz |
| why do we keep giving money to the maori.Tell them to use their own money-that has already been given to them. | ROSS |
| too much for maori | craig |
| tax cuts good, still paying out to one race is bull shit, they are there to govern for all, That money would have paid for the hospitals & drugs many times over. | Nigel |
| OK, and yet far too much funding abuse ! | Henk |
| Given with what they had to work with, I think they have done a great job and have kept us well informed. | Rose |
| Definitely a big thumbs down! | Murray |
| What is it with all the race based funding, they promised the reverse??????????????????? | Brian |
| Only a small thumbs up!! | Max |
| Not enough cuts to wasteful spending. | Kevin |
| More cuts in Gov departments needed to fund more tax cuts please | Tony |
| If we keep on funding Maori claims to the seabed and foreshore we will end up going headfirst down the slippery slope of legislated PRIVILEGE against 80% of the population. Just the situation our forebears came here to escape. Nothing good will come of it. Even more of the good people will leave. | Malcolm |
| A thumbs up for trying, but a thumbs down for NOT addressing the Race-Based funding adequately in this year or 2. At least they are trying to balance the books. | M |
| Same old story: “some of the people some of the time…” | Michael |
| Too much money specifically targeted for Maori interests that will never be accounted for. | Mark |
| could of been worse | Fiona |
| There is to much spending on maori projects. I thought we were one people. | Nigel |
| Tax reforms don’t go far enough. The appalling waste of tax payer funded spending needs to be pulled back severely on all non-essentials. At least this budget is a positive start. | Greg |
| It was always going to be an exercise that attracted criticism from the left and from the further right. | John |
| same old same old. Printing currency continues resulting in ongoing inflation. The middle class a lost cause. Savings eroded. | edward |
| Excellent budge, designed to turn our economy around. from a problem position. | NEIL |
| Not too bad for first up. | Murray |
| Between a Rock & a hard place we have to get started on dismantling the previous governments mess. | Peter |
| Sorting out the financial and economic mess left by the previous administration is no enviable task and this budget marks a much needed turning point. What is disappointing however is the continued bleeding of taxpayer funds into race based organisations and programmes. Funding for claims over seabed and foreshore should fall on the claimants and not the taxpayer. This is a rort that the government should move quickly to resolve through legislation. | John |
| Need to cut more spending on bureaucracy at least back to where we were in 2017. | John |
| Too much wasteful spending. Too much segregation spending. The aged have been left to drown in inflation and rot in their ability to keep up. Every year I have to give something up – this year it will be the recycling bin and the daily newspaper. They became luxury items! | Dot |
| The tax cuts are a good thing, however I am disgusted that Maori have been given millions of dollars of tax payer money. How is this supposed to be non race based? It’s about time that the Maori tribes spent the tax payer money that they have been given over the decades to promote their language & culture. The rest of the country should not be forced to support them. And the whole Foreshore issue is a disgrace. Why do successive governments bend over backwards to support these radicals? If Maori are given tax payer funds to promote their claims, then those people who object should also be tax payer funded. It needs to be a level playing field. | david |
| Too much for Maori. This urgently needs to be addressed | Heather |
| It was ok but not much more was possible after 6 years of mismanagement. The public service still needs substantial trimming. Here’s hoping! | Tony |
| I dont beleive tax cuts were necessary due to the bad place the Govt is in. I also see how much money this Govt is wasting despite their words. Heaps of money to Kapahuka really… | Barbara |
| A great start to get our Country back ! Kiwisaver MUST become compulsory even starting at a lower level for those who cannot afford any more . Look what Australia did all those years ago and now they are swimming in money !! The current system is NOT working so MUST be changed now !! | Andrew |
| It’s a ‘wait and see’ situation. The public had no input in formation of the budget so it seems pointless wasting time on it now. | Graham |
| WHY have maori-iwi been given MILLIONS from tax payers when ALL the iwi are MILLIONAIRES & WHY are maoris getting so much of OUR money when we are ALL SUPPOSED TO BE EQUAL.Come on EVERYONE email ALL the MP,s IN CHARGE of portfolio,s & ask why EVERYONE are NOT EQUAL & OUR TAX PAYING MONEY IS GIVEN TO MAORI-IWI & WHY WE ARE PAYING FOR MAORI THINGS PAKEHA,s CANNOT ENTER.YOU PROMISED TO GET RID OF RACE BASED THINGS THAT USED TAX PAYERS MONEY TO FUND THEM.RACISIM IN NZ IS SUPPOSED TO BE OUTLAWED BUT THE GOVT.IS FUNDING ITWITH OUR MONEY THINGS IN NZ NEEDS FUNDING. that are for EVERYONE are calling our for help & being IGNORED. | Cindy |
| The budget lacked the courage to do what is REALLY necessary. Not least of which is to destroy the APARTHEID that exists in NZ. | Geoff |
| Govt definitely on the right track. I can not understand why The office of maori relations Te Arawhiti is still there. They are undermining our current govt still promoting He Pua Pua. Maori takeover of NZ. Maori still seem to be sucking tax payers dry whilst their own corporations pay no tax. Unbelieable. | Allan |
| Wealth destruction…more low productivity….entrenched high interest rates and the slow demise of civilisation NZ style. | Chris |
| thumbs up and down. a relief of sorts had to be done and this country needs to run e as a business not a flipping charity. the race based funding to Maori that already are wortht $70 billion dollars beggers belief! The separatism agenda has to stop. the collosal waste and mismanagemnt of money from previous government just about crippled nz and on par with a banana republic now ot stime to put on the big girl knickers oull socks up and get cracking and thats reality not an ideology. | angela |
| Overall ok. | Andrew |
| All the separist race based funding should be eliminated NOT entrenched. The Coast and seabed issue is a DISASTER and needs to be dealt with by Government – not the courts – who have proved to be a bunch of wallies. Why are we encouraging race based economy? Just will turn out to be disastrous. | Don |
| Keep it up cancel iwi period | Norman |
| A solid step in the right direction | Craig |
| Non-Essential services and payouts should be deferred until spending and deficits are back on track. Focus should be on the things that matter – Education, Health, Security, Law & Order, Economy. Social and Cultural expenses have been extreme during the past 6 years and have contributed hugely to our current situation. | Martin |
| promises kept | doug |
| Still too much wasteful spending | Sue |
| Much could be saved by cutting back on Maori gifts and not funding court cases | Gareth |
| Thumbs up and thumbs down for the budget. We need a Roger Douglas-type shock treatment not a Neville Chamberlain-type approach. | Donald |
| TAX REDUCTION GOOD BUT STILL FINANCIALLY PRIVILAGING MAORI IS A VERY BAD MOVE | ROD |
| still a lot of race based handouts | Chris |
| Not nearly enough reduction in waste. at all levels and in all areas. Get out of our pockets! Get off our backs! Get “them on their backs” working. Clean the streets for dole money! Any number of ground level public service jobs should be done by benefit receivers | Colin |
| Good start, but needs more work. Now go after the handouts ladled out to the brown parasites for far too long and shut them down altogether. Better still – find ways of getting some of it back! | Scott. |
| For the time being…… some of it seems o.k on the surface? time will tell… just hope that Nicolla dosen’t find another hidden LEDGER ,IN A SEA OF RED!!! | David |
| Government spending cuts signaled don’t go far enough. | Gerard |
| But only just. Nothing in it for us oldies. Not even a cup of coffee | Don |
| Too much funding has been given to Maori to continue their activism for control of New Zealand | Kevin |
| Not radical enough. Although it revised the tax thresholds it did little for the basic problems we face which are massive. | Roger |
| Thumbs up for effort. I want to see debt and government expenditure reduced. I do not support funding for Matatini, Whanau Ora or the Office of Crown Maori Relations. These fundings increase racial separatism and as such are not acceptable or helpful in the longterm. | Peter |
| Terrible for DoC and our unique land, and marine, natural environment. Our economy needs to have more emphasis on RRR:- Reduce, Re-use, Recycle rather than how much more can we increase use of this finite planet. Bad re grasping Maori as related by Murial. [My tax relief $4] | Rochelle |
| Unfortunately it has too much Maori ‘favouritism” still. We are one nation and should work as that together to make it a better country for everyone. | Anna |
| But not confident they can deliver | john |
| It’s going in the right direction but doesn’t go far enough as far as the race based govt. funding. | Dave |
| Budget probably too generous should have made greater effort to reduce debt | Ted |
| Over my hard earned money going to fund Maori gravy train. | David |
| Did not go far enough in cutting government expenditure | andy |
| Anything in this day and age is better than nothing | Graeme |
| Neutral really,it was dumb to borrow to give tax cuts. | Peter |
| Sadly our new government continues to Fund racial division by continuing to fund Maori separatist aspirations & treaty legal costs wherein this money could have funded Cancer patients medicines. The Maori gravy train funded by tax payers must cease. Also why are many huge Iwi corporations like Tainui & Ng Tahu not paying company tax & control over 70% of NZ fish quotas. | Derek |
| Not nearly enough reduction in the size of govt departments. | Michele |
| The budget does not address the non productive expenditure wastage that comes from continuing to fund blatant racially biased programmes that target Maori. Continuing to fund programmes that Maori grievance settlement claims should educate di g is j excusable. I afraid mr luxon cannot conceal his weakness to address wastage when it comes to racially based demand for tax payer revenue Secondly we need to get govt expenditure as a percentage of gdp down to at least what it was when labour took office. It’s a reason why our productivity continue to deteriorate . This coalition needs to ignite the productive sector so that necessary dollars for health , education and security can be funded without borrowing more and more which future generations will have to payback Yes the coalition has replaced the lunatic incompetents in the cockpit which will avoid a nose dive crash. However it needs to return the craft to higher elevations to avoid the rocky terrain ahead | Greg |
| reason we lost depreciation deductability on commercial property | Dean |
| Not radical enough. Those who want to fund projects that do not help the majority of us can fund them themselves | Ray |
| We the people are more stupid than our government is devious. | fred |
| Major dissapointment. It this is as good as it gets NZ is doomed. More big Govt. More debt. More tax in 3 yrs time | Grant |
| The new government can’t fix six years of reckless spending in only six months. | Bruce |
| We are ONE PEOPLE and the budget should clearly represent that! | Dick |
| A good safe start – but it didn’t go far enough. I’m a supporter of Roger’s tax reforms. Stimulate the economy by rewarding workers & exports. Cut public servants, red tape in all sectors, and excessive health & safety regulations. We need also to curb spending on Apartheid projects & Maori affairs, Climate Change baloney & alternative energy. | Simon |
| Too much to Maori. Cancer drugs not funded as promised pre election | Colleen |
| It’s simply more of the same – tinkering instead of doing something meaningful. If Maori say the budget does nothing for them stop all the payments they currently enjoy. | Mark |
| Thumbs down. I get it that the cupboard is bare and there is just not enough money to go round but where it has been allocated and the fact that the Government oversold itself in the Election hype showed a lack of nous. The cancer drug funding promises and reality of what is really evolved is a political disaster and simply cruel. The three headed government plus the Maori activists make me think that the Biden Trump choice is not the only political circus in the Free World! God Defend New Zealand. | Bruce |
| Unbelievable amount given to Maori, and they had check to protest on budget day and call it a pakeha budget nothing in it for Maori! That money could have funded more Police, cancer drugs, etc. A disgrace. | Linda |
| But not a resounding thumbs up, the backtracking on funding the 13 cancer drugs through Pharmac is disappointing. | Kevin |
| Not enough cost cutting in government | John |
| Didnt tackle the main problem of out of control government spending and gave too much away to racist causes | Andrew |
| An intentionally DESTROYED economy was handed to this Government by the criminal previous regime | mike |
| Still not hard enough on bureaucracy cutbacks and spending too much on Maori appeasement. | Mije |
| Too much race based largesse. Not enough cuts in the bloated Wellington bureaucracy. Not enough incentive in the economy to drive real growth | Frank |
| Well I guess we have to star somewhere. But still it is not radical enough as far as this disproportionate spending on all these Maori outfits is concerned. How on earth can money be allocated to them without proper accountability is utterly unacceptable. The rest of us is closely monitored. but not them. This injustice has to end here and now. | Michael |
| Still a lot to do but the Budget was on the right track. The big question – is do they (particularly National and NZFirst) have the heart to get the job completed properly? | pdm |
| They have destroyed our BNB business costing us $30 per night of use, or killing bookings! No bookings since they increased the cost!!!!! | Andy |
| Need to stop chucking money at all these ‘Maori’ projects. Why are tax payers paying for legal fees so that so called Maoris can claim our public assets! Removal of all race based funding would help the economy immensely. And why should there be anything special in the budget for ‘Maori’? Supposed to be just one of our 160 ethnic groups aren’t they? | Lee |
| Could be better | Phil |
| While inheriting a bit of a basket case from the last mob, they could have cut a lot more. | Steve |
| Being a pensioner it has bugger all affect, In my opinion if it was a lower rate people will spend more as they have more, but the govt has to learn to live within the budget | colin |
| Not enough cuts to excessive spending. Borrowing continues at a higher level than Grant Robertson managed! | REod |
| continuing race based polices, labour were rejected on these along with many other negative practices. The coalition is meant to be colour blind! | Giles |
| Maori get nothing as a separate group | Evans |
| Well they could have gone a lot further for example why do we have to fund the foreshore and seabed claims I understood that would cease as would several other things funded only for Maori the government nead to go harder if they want to keep well trained and qualified people from leaving the country in droves | Peter |
| Its a good start but more funding reductions are required to get the economy back into sustainable financial position | Lex |
| Too much for the brown bludgers | John |
| Why are we continuing to fund all the Maori bs, we are supposed to be one people ie all New Zealanders. No government has the B—s to stand up to this | CHris |
| With reservations as the amount given to Maori based affairs/projects? to me doesn’t seem to get to those that need it! | Joe |
| Cluxson is a WEF socialist pos | Greg |
| Clucinda is a WEF socialist POS | Greg |
| Agreeing with Eric’s commentary, gradually ramping up the inflation adjustment of tax brackets would have been the way to go as both a short and long term solution. No question that after previous do nothing National followed by the Ardern regime debacle that borrowed to spend on crap, there’s a massive essential infrastructure and critical services deficit that can only be fixed by further borrowing. So maybe tax cuts shouldn’t have been implemented at all at this time. | Ron |
| Cut the Maori crap | Mark |
| All spending should be for the benefit of all New Zealnders and therefore all race based allocation should be eliminated | Miles |
| Things need to change | Mike |
| Way to much given to wasteful government departments and Maori elite organisations to squander | King |
| Difficult balance | Janet |
| National still kow-tow to the maori elite | Clive |
| A very good start of (at least) 9 years of conservative governments in New Zealand. | Andy |
| Far too much being spent on devisive Maori non-urgent programmes | Rayner |
| “All” race based spending should have been cut whereever possible. The “devil” is in the detail here. Either New Zealanders have equal rights and privilages or they dont. An iwi is a group of people defined by perceived race. Nothing more, nothing less. There is a MASSIVE difference between what is said and promised and what facts are and have been created. | Charles |
| I believe that the Govt has done it’s best to meet it’s election promises and still crack down on bloated spending in the Crown and public service accounts. | John |
| Not enough cutting of Maori spending & to much spent on the public service/civil servants | Derek |
| Far too much funding for Maori based initiatives, time to fund everyone according to need not race | Peter |
| they are making progress having to work with a stuffed economy this budget was never going to be a gimmie gimmie for all in sundry | Carolyn |
| I think the Coalition has started well BUT they must carry on eliminating wasteful and race-based funding. That was their pledge at the election, and they need to honour it. | David |
| The tax cuts were long overdue. I don’t know what all the fuss was about. They should be indexed to inflation, so this cannot happen again. | Murray |
| National didn’t go nearly far enough in cutting public service numbers and spending. They need to take it all back to 2017 levels. | Pauline |
| Here they go again – appeasing Maori radicals. All the race-based funding should have been eliminated. National is so busy trying to not upset anyone, they end up entrenching the damage and making the situation worse. | Simon |
| The recipe for economic growth is low taxes, less regulation, and a reduction in government spending. The Coalition has a long way to go yet! | Roger |