The 2010 Budget is a lost opportunity and a massive broken promise, says the Labour Party's finance spokesman David Cunliffe.

The Govt's decision to remove recognition for fully qualified centres 'dumbs down' the sector, early childhood educators say.

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.

"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."

Owners of both commercial buildings and rental houses will no longer be able to claim depreciation on their investments.

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 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.