MEDIA RELEASE: Labour’s Mini-Budget Delivers Fiscal Restraint

14 DECEMBER 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Grant Robertson’s pre-Christmas spend-up appears to tie his hand in years to come, and offers a welcome dose of fiscal restraint,” says the Taxpayers’ UnionExecutive Director, Jordan Williams, reacting to today’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update.
 
“Today’s HYEFU was a mini-budget – it changes the direction of the Government’s spending priorities in the short term, and returns the tax system to a more complex tax and credit churn system.”
 
“But on the other side of the coin, Labour deserve real credit. There is no enormous tax grab forecast and Mr Robertson is signalling that he will run a very tight ship. Uncommitted operational spending is only $6.6 billion, or $660 million per year, out to 2022. That is only about half what National budgeted over recent years, and will need to also cover those coalition agreement policies not already costed and factored into the books.”

ENDS