KEY POINTS:
"We have delivered a tax cut package which is both substantial and fair. It consciously rewards the many for their contribution to New Zealand's economic success, not just the few. It helps the battlers in our society deal with the ill-winds blowing from offshore." - Finance Minister Michael Cullen.
"Nine years of waiting and a family-sized block of cheese and you get two blocks before the election and you're meant to be grateful.
"The next time you get a tax cut theoretically under that budget is not for two years. That's a long time between toasted sandwiches. It's a long time between macaroni cheese." - National leader John Key.
"A vote for John Key is a vote for fewer teachers not more, fewer nurses not more, more problems not fewer." - Prime Minister Helen Clark.
"They've (National) been talking about cutting the cost of bureaucracy (to pay for tax cuts) ... Did you know that John Key himself in his Wellington parliamentary office employs 36 people?" - New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
"The tax cuts will relieve pressures on many families but we really wanted to see a bigger, a much greater emphasis on eliminating poverty and this budget doesn't do that." - Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples.
"These are Labour's tax cuts, designed with a clear eye to Labour's constituency." - United Future leader Peter Dunne.
"The trouble with Dr Cullen's budgets is that they are all about carving up the economy cake rather than baking a bigger cake." - ACT leader Rodney Hide.
"This budget is not based on reality. We can't trust its numbers. It's planning for the past, not for the future." - Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.
- NZPA
