Finance Minister Bill English may hike the excise on tobacco and alcohol and further tighten rules on property investment to help bridge the $640 million shortfall in his pledge to return to budget surplus in 2015.
Treasury forecasts for next Thursday's Budget were found to be predicting a $640 million deficit at June 15, thanks largely to a declining tax take, a drop in investment returns, and weak economic growth. Prime Minister John Key has already warned Cabinet will tighten the tax system and prune government spending in the budget next week. Subsidised prescription charges are also to rise from $3 to $5, and the rate of repayment for student loans will be quickened in two pre-Budget announcements that have already been made.
"I think we will see some sin taxes rise - alcohol and cigarettes - these sorts of things," said Cameron Bagrie, chief economist at ANZ National. "Generally speaking the government is keen on tax systems that drive economic incentives."
Long-time smoker and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has also predicted a rise in tobacco taxes as a certainty, especially as the government's wobbly political partner, the Maori Party, wants cigarette smoking stamped out in New Zealand by 2025.
The budget may also target property investors, adding to the loopholes it closed last year, when it curbed depreciation that can be claimed on buildings. That change, which came into effect on April 1, is expected to generate about $685 million in government revenue in the 2011/12 year, rising to $690 million in 2013/14.