![Budget 2010: Bill English's speech](/pf/resources/images/placeholders/placeholder_l.png?d=795)
Budget 2010: Bill English's speech
The full text of Finance Minister Bill English's Budget 2010 speech to Parliament.
The full text of Finance Minister Bill English's Budget 2010 speech to Parliament.
The Govt has allocated just under $500 million annually to health - $250m less a year than the increase in last year's budget.
The top income tax rate has been slashed to 33 cents as part of across the board tax cuts, with the Govt promising most NZers will be better off, despite a rise in GST.
Politically safe, yet economically timid and fiscally vulnerable - that's the initial verdict on Bill English's second Budget.
The Budget avoids the potential trap of being too austere and fiscally virtuous too soon, when the recovery is still in a young, frost-tender stage.
New Zealanders earning over $50k will now be paying less tax than Australians after today's tax cuts.
"There is not much we would be critical of," says Business Roundtable executive director Roger Kerr. "The budget reveals sound steps but not step changes."
NZ remains financially vulnerable, but there are positive signs emerging and the economy is on track to grow, Bill English says.
From October 1 all personal tax rates will be cut, ranging from 2 per cent for someone earning up to $14,000 to five per cent for high income earners.
If Labour were writing today's Budget, it would spend more than National to ensure the recovery from recession remained on track, says David Cunliffe.
Prime Minister John Key has been ranked in a list of the top 20 wealthiest leaders in the world.
Prime Minister John Key has heralded a sock-it-to-the-rich approach towards those who fiddle with their tax liability by sheltering income in trusts and companies.
A New Zealander caught up in the rioting in downtown Bangkok offers his perspective on the crisis.
The Govt was left red faced today after Labour's David Cunliffe obtained a copy of questions National MP Craig Foss was to put to Bill English - plus the answers.
The Govt's three-year, $750m commitment to strengthen KiwiRail is not enough in comparison to the huge amount already committed to roading, Labour says.