The coalition Government is taking decisive action to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in next year’s Budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says.
“Government spending is expected to have increased by around 80% between 2017 and 2024, with far too few results to show for it. Our Government is determined to restore respect for taxpayer money by stopping wasteful spending, improving value for money and driving resources out of the back-office and into frontline services.
“Today’s mini-Budget sets out a series of decisions we have already made which deliver an initial down-payment of $7.47 billion in operating savings and additional revenue over the forecast period.
“This includes $2.61 billion of savings that have been delivered by stopping work on a series of costly Labour programmes including Let’s Get Wellington Moving, the FPA regime and Industry Transformation Plans.
“In some cases, these decisions have also removed significant fiscal risks from the Government books: such as the potential $15 billion liability for Auckland Light Rail, up to $16 billion associated with building a pumped hydro scheme at Lake Onslow, and the risk of further Crown funding being required in future to balance the cost of Clean Car Discount rebates with the level of fee revenue received from high-emissions vehicles.
“Our decisions ensure that $2.047 billion of forecast cash proceeds from the Emissions Trading Scheme can be used as a ‘climate dividend’ to support income tax reduction, including by closing the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund (GIDI), which has been subsidising already profitable businesses to reduce emissions.
“This work is just the beginning. The Coalition Government has started an ongoing Fiscal Sustainability Programme to embed a culture of responsible spending across Government.
“The first step in this programme is an Initial Baseline Exercise for government agencies designed to find around $1.5 billion per annum in savings to deliver on our policy commitments and fund critical cost pressures.
“This exercise brings together the $500 million per annum baseline savings exercise initiated – but not completed – by the outgoing government, along with our previously pledged commitments to reduce consultancy and departmental spending.
“I have written to Ministers asking that their agencies find savings ahead of Budget 2024, with individual agency targets informed by headcount growth since 2017. All savings proposals will be subject to an assurance process and final agreement by Cabinet at Budget 2024. In agencies with significant frontline cost-pressures, savings could be used to help offset these costs.
“I have also asked Ministers to undertake a ‘health-check’ on medium and high-risk capital projects in the investment pipeline for their agencies, to understand and respond to under-funding, cost-blow outs and delivery risks that may exist.
“As the Auditor General’s recent report showed, government infrastructure spending under Labour lacked rigour. A much more disciplined approach is needed.
“The coalition has further work underway to put New Zealand on a firmer financial footing, including:
- Enabling full cost-recovery for immigration visa processing
- Taxing online casino gambling operations
- Stepping-up the audit activities of the IRD
- Replacing the fees-free policy with a final-year fees-free policy from 2025
- Improving the cost-effectiveness of the school lunch programme
“Our Government is committed to getting the books back in order and effectively managing taxpayers’ money. We have found billions of dollars’ worth of savings within weeks of being elected, and we intend to continue this savings-drive to deliver a better deal for all New Zealanders.”
Image credit: Pixabay
Ole rubber lips is still bleating
Something about a bottle of gin and coming out of the closet
Ah and a sausage
NZ went woke and then quickly went broke.
What a surprise. Not.
Directly over the target
Very succinct
If they have found ‘billions of dollars’ worth of savings, why then are the tax demands, cutting of social service programs, (especially for the disabled and autistic), and giving tax breaks to the upper crust echelon of ‘society’ that always support National not being implemented?
And then there is the infrastructure being totally shot, storm damage repair, and last but not least, no preparation for World War Three…
& BTW, Al-Jazeera is repoprting that Palestinian men, women and children were murdered in cold blood in a housing project by Israeli troops.
Plus, the Israelis are using bulldozers to rip-up the cemeteries with buried bodies now exposed, and religious artifacts and structures being incessantly destroyed.
That is disturbing enough, BUT-
When Luxon (aka John Key Jr….) came on TV and states that he and New Zealand ‘fully supports Israel’ in the war, that should tell you who is doing the manipulations and instructing Luxon in what to do or say.
That of course, is J*****-Zionist Bankster ‘Sir’ John Key!!!!
Several opinions have pointed out the fact that Luxon is NOT a politician, and is a tool of the Zio-NWO / WEF machine.
Note to Luxon; YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SUPPORTING A REGIME THAT IS ACTIVELY COMMITTING GENOCIDE, DESECRATING CEMETERIES, MURDERING PEOPLE IN TYPICAL J***** FASHION, (see the movie ‘The Chekist’ online…), and IS ENGAGAING IN HOLOCAUST, HOLODOMOR, AND DENYING HUMANITARIAN AID TO A NON-COMBATANT POPULATION!
Luxon, you can always be recalled, and new elections held…!
Note to Winston Peters- YOU SHOULD STAND BY FOR A MOTION TO BECOME PM IN THE EVENT THE CURRENT INEXPERIENCED PM CONTINUES TO SUPPORT CRIMINAL ISRAEL!
NEW ZEALAND OVERALL HAS NOT, DOES NOT AND WILL NOT SUPPORT SUCH A CRIMINAL NATION STATE THAT IS RUN BY MURDEROUS PSYCHOPATHS!!!!!!
The people of New Zealand DO NOT support Netanyahu nor criminal Israel! &,
NEITHER DOES THE REST OF THE WORLD!!!