"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
      - George W. Bush

The news this week has been dominated by Bill English's second Zero Budget.

The Budget's main aim is to get the government's books back in surplus by 2014/15, which has taken on something of a holy grail importance in the government's eyes and that of the public, whether it actually is or not. See Low hanging rotten fruit for some potential alternative aims.

Unfortunately that means it is not a particularly inspiring budget and anyone hoping for news to encourage economic growth will be sorely disappointed.

Stuff.co.nz has a summary of the main points here, but I would like to focus on a few of them.

Closing a tax loophole for those who rent out their bach and boat, saving $109m over four years

This appears to be the Government's vaunted plan to broaden the tax base and while you can't rarely argue against it, it is a pretty week effort at broadening the tax base (Anyone for a capital gains tax?).

Three tax credits abolished, saving $117 million over four years.

This appears to be part of the broader tax base as well and while I'm not opposed to the removal of any of them, it suggests a government really scraping the barrel, devoid of any big ideas.

An excise tax hike on tobacco, taking the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes to more than $20 by 2016

My only problem with this is that it should have been more. A 10% increase each year seems like nothing, 25% would have really said something.

Deferring KiwiSaver auto enrolment

This policy would have cost a lot of money so it does make some sense to defer until the government is running a surplus. However on the other hand the Credit Rating Agencies have been a lot more concerned with our low rate of personal savings than Government debt or deficits, so wouldn't the benefits of increased KiwiSaver participation have outweighed the negatives?

Increasing student loan repayment rate to 12 per cent

I have already blogged that I don't have a problem with this policy. The changes to the Student Allowance entitlements are concerning however, especially the potential impact on post graduate students.

The aim of the Government is to ensure a return to surplus in 2014/15 on that level it succeeds. Unfortunately New Zealand needs something more than that, a budget that encourages economic growth and adresses the major issues facing it, the ticking time bomb of superannuation and interest free student loans.

Unfortunately for New Zealand this Government doesn't want to face it and I have serious doubts that the alternative have the ability to face them.

The Government has been taking a lot of heat over the last few weeks and the hits just keep on coming. Following the complaint to police over Sky City's 'anonymous' donation to John Banks' mayoralty complaint, it now appears John Banks received $50,000 from Kim Dotcom anonymously despite knowing about it, which doesn't quite make sense. This could ultimately lead to his resignation and the end of the ACT party, although this is unlikely to affect the Government's majority. Read the full article here on the New Zealand Herald website.

You could only have had a worse week if your name is David Shearer and you are a dead man walking less than six months into your new job.

Paid Parental Leave

Sue Moroney's Parental Leave and Employment Protection bill is getting a lot of air time at the moment, not least because the opposition has the numbers to pass it and the government will be forced to veto it.

I have been following the coverage on a number of blogs and there are few people arguing against it, rather they are arguing against the timing. What is really interesting is the nature of some of the comments on the blogs. A number of people seem to genuinely think that there tax dollars go directly to one single mum on the DPB, rather than being spent on a huge number of things in the public interest, many of which they benefit from.

One comment I read (I haven't been able to find it again unfortunately) was from a woman in her forties who had chosen not to have children and was a business owner, she felt if you couldn't avoid to take six months off after having children you shouldn't have them. She seems to be a little confused about the continued survival of the human race and what the entails. It also suggests that only the wealthy should be allowed to have children. I don't like the idea that having children is a human right, I prefer to think of it as a human privilege. But that privilege should be dependent on your ability to provide a loving and nuturing environment for your children, not how much money you have.

My favourite comment however is this one:

Fuck why don’t we all sit around home all day, let the brain dead liberal fucktards pay the bills, this shit makes me want to throw the towel in. These lefty fools would happily enslave us all to a future determined by the IMF and the commie fucks in the UN. Their is no free lunch. When my wife had our children she was working again in about two weeks, this country is turning into a fools paradise where reality belongs in another dimension and the grasshoppers play in the sun all day, it will end in tears.

I imagine this guy is constantly angry.

Out of touch, maybe just a little bit!

I have just been watching Back Benches on TVNZ 7 (Tboxed). At the end of each show they have a segment called I've been Thinking, where each guest is given thirty seconds to speak on a topic of their choice. The guest from National this week was Tim Macindoe, MP for Hamilton West. I have never met Tim Macindoe or heard anything from him before, but I can now comfortably say he is an idiot. To quote:

I've been thinking that it's time we got on top of our major problem with welfare dependency in this country

We have a number of major problems in this country, welfare dependency is not one of them. I am not stupid enough to argue that there is not a problem with welfare dependency but we need to keep it in perspective. Macindoe also states that we are spending twenty million dollars a day on welfare. I don't know if that figure is correct but the vast majority of it is being spent on people who genuinely need assistance.

Macindoe also wants to put in place the right support structures and the right incentives. The major incentive to get people off welfare is jobs. The lack of high wage jobs in this country is a major problem, it would be nice if Tim focused on that.

Goodbye Nick Smith

It appears Nick Smith is due to resign this afternoon. It might seem tough for a small error in judgement but as a minister you need to be beyond reproach. Bit embarrassing for John Key as he has publicly rejected the need for Nick Smith's resignation. I will be interested to see David Farrar's take on it. Update: Nick Smith has resigned in the house as of a few minutes ago.