National has delivered on its tax cut promises at Budget 2024, but for some, it will hardly pay for a loaf of bread, the 1News team says.
As expected, Finance Minister Nicola Willis unveiled changes to tax brackets, meaning a reduction in personal income tax for the first time since 2010, among other changes.
Willis said the tax cuts were fully funded through savings and revenue initiatives and would not add to inflation pressure.
1News political editor Maiki Sherman said National delivered on its tax cut promises.
“$102 a fortnight for the average income household, if you couple that with the FamilyBoost, which National has previously announced of $75 a week, that’s $150 a fortnight, that’s $250 [total], that’s what National promised. Nicola Willis has delivered on that," she said.
"Who doesn’t get as much though are those minimum wage workers - even less, pensioners, superannuitants. A (pensioner) couple will only get $9 a fortnight in tax cuts - that’s $4.50 a week, hardly a loaf of bread.”
1News business correspondent Katie Bradford agreed Willis had done what she said she would, but it meant some areas would be missing out.
“She’s got those departments to go through line by line; there are so many programmes that have been cut there," she said.
"There are also a number of ministries there that aren’t getting any funding at all; they made those cuts and there is zero funding in the Budget for them. We’re talking about the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, agriculture, there’s a long list.”
A tourism levy was being increased, fees-free for first year tertiary students was being axed in favour of the final year, and for those going overseas with a student loan waiting at home, the interest charged was going up around 1%.
Sherman said there was around $17 billion for the health portfolio – with Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announcing the next two health budgets – so around $5.5b per budget.
There was also big money for education and law and order.
"Think those new builds in terms of classrooms, in terms of schools, they were put on the backburner when the Government first came in,” Sherman said.
“Hopefully [there are] now some answers for those principals and those families. And the law and order budget will be helping pay for those 500 new police officers on the front line.”
Gloomy economic predictions
Bradford pointed out that overall, the economic information out today “paints a worse economic picture than we expected”.
A surplus would be back in 2027/28 and there would be less spending over the next couple of years.
That all comes with the proviso that there are no more economic shocks, that is natural disasters or global economic upheaval.
Sherman said the coalition Government’s first Budget was largely how it was marketed beforehand – “no frills”.
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