Budget Smudgeit
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:43 pm, May 30th, 2024 - 39 commentsCategories: budget 2024, national, nicola willis, same old national, treasury - Tags:So the budget is now live and the analysis is now starting. There are tax cuts. There are tax cuts, $15 billion of them. Can someone reconcile this with Willis’s claim that the budget is fiscally neutral? They are excluded from the in-work tax credit rise, independent earner tax credit boost, and tax cuts.
Source:Stuff
May 30, 2024 08:46 UTC
Budget 2024: We already know what’s in it, the focus will shift to what’s been cut to pay for it
Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon have repeatedly said tax cuts are in the Budget, as promised. Today, at 2pm, New Zealanders will discover to the surprise of no one that the Budget includes... tax cuts. The tax cuts come with a hefty price tag. Tax cuts that trigger on July 1 could be a headache for payroll systems. The other challenge for the Government is the intrigue that will naturally surround the 200 programmes axed to fund the tax cuts.
Source:New Zealand Herald
May 30, 2024 04:03 UTC
Budget 2024 analysis: What to look out for today in the Government’s finances
ANALYSISFinance Minister Nicola Willis’ first Budget has been printed and is good to go. The Reserve Bank has already threatened to lift to the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points should inflation not abate quickly enough. However, because the programme effectively saw $55b created by the Reserve Bank to buy bonds, even small changes to the arrangement would be noteworthy. The current plan is for Treasury to buy-back $5b of bonds per year from the Reserve Bank until 2027. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.
Source:New Zealand Herald
May 30, 2024 02:31 UTC
LIVE: Budget 2024 revealed
The contents of the Budget will be revealed by Willis in Parliament at 2pm. It will coincide with a protest, organised with help from Te Pāti Māori, descending upon Parliament after midday while the Budget lockup is under way. The Budget will also show the full extent of spending cuts faced by government departments, and how much of those have been redirected to frontline services. However, most attention on the day will be on the tax cuts. The Opposition parties have attacked the planned tax cuts, questioning whether they are affordable and the cuts needed to pay for them.
Source:New Zealand Herald
May 30, 2024 02:17 UTC
Live: Thousands join protest at Parliament as Govt unveils Budget
Te Pāti Māori supporters march from Kiririroa Marae to Waikato University in Hamilton. Steel barriers have been set-up ahead of the Te Pāti Māori protest at Parliament. It is the second nationwide protest action Te Pāti Māori supported against the Government and its policies, coming after action on December 5 last year. Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi (left) and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer defended a day of protest and continued to urge Māori people to join. Police Minister Mark Mitchell has condemned the planned “unlawful protest” action.
Source:New Zealand Herald
May 30, 2024 02:16 UTC
Te Pāti Māori protest live updates: Thousands turn out to join Budget Day protests across NZ
Image 1 of 18 : Te Pāti Māori supporters rally on the Rimu Rd overbridge in Mangere Bridge, Auckland. Photo / Jason DordayStory continues:Te Pāti Māori, alongside the Toitū Te Tiriti, said in an online post that the action was intended to “prove the might of [the Māori] economy by disconnecting entirely from it”. It is the second nationwide protest action Te Pāti Māori supported against the Government and its policies, coming after action on December 5 last year. Protest organiser Eru Kapa-Kingi, from Toitū Te Tiriti, said protest motorists in Auckland will converge on to the Northwestern, Southern and Northern motorways from 6.30am to try to accomplish maximum disruption. Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi (left) and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer defended a day of protest and continued to urge Māori people to join.
Source:New Zealand Herald
May 30, 2024 01:55 UTC
Breakfast briefing: Financial markets drive interest rates up
More broadly, US mortgage applications sank -5.7% last week from the previous week, the most since mid-February, and ending three consecutive rises. The retreat follows a fresh rise in benchmark mortgage rates, above 7% and following the rise in long-date Treasury yields. The median yield today was 4.59%, down marginally from the 4.66% at the prior equivalent event a month ago. The German CPI inflation rate edged higher in May to 2.4%, a marginal increase from their 2.2% April rate. Wall Street has slipped again today as rates rise further with the S&P500 down another -0.7% in late Wednesday trade.
Source:Stuff
May 29, 2024 23:16 UTC
Higher power bills to pay for electricity grid investment
The Commission adds the increases to household electricity bills will differ depending on location. “Some companies have forecast that they require an increase in investment that is as much as three times higher than their historical spend. Transpower and local lines companies face higher costs and more expensive borrowing and materials, as well as inflationary pressures since the last revenue review that took place in 2019. That’s why we’re proposing to increase the amount of revenue Transpower and local lines companies can earn," McWha says. The Commission's draft decisions for Transpower and the local lines companies will now go into consultation over June and July, before a final decision is made in November.
Source:Stuff
May 29, 2024 10:08 UTC
Police warn of traffic disruption amid Toitū Te Tiriti protests
Te Pāti Māori and others connected to the Toitū Te Tiriti (Honour the Treaty) movement have called for strikes as a follow up to last year's National Māori Action Day. Organisers called for all Māori and Tangata Tiriti to go on strike and protest the government's policies affecting Māori. "We're asking for a Māori strike and our people should turn out," Te Pāti Māori's Rawiri Waititi said yesterday. ADVERTISEMENT"Motorists in areas likely to be affected are advised to plan ahead to mitigate any disruption to their travel. He thought it was "wrong" for Te Pāti Māori to be advising people to take the day off work.
Source:Stuff
May 29, 2024 09:36 UTC
Gas Station watch
Gas Stations sit the very intersection of transport, land use, and the energy transition, so are interesting to watch. The three buildings shown here are all on the sites of former gas stations in central Auckland. Like fast food chains the business model for urban gas stations is less about the income from their main product than you might imagine. The more a street or road is de-valued by high traffic volumes, and/or low density and light industrial zoning, the more likely its gas station will persist. We are clearly past the peak of urban gas stations and will only see decline from here on in, right down to zero.
Source:Stuff
May 29, 2024 08:20 UTC
Covid Cases, Rules, And Free Stuff: What You Need To Know
Ahead of Budget 2024, let's recap what we know about Covid restrictions, vaccines, tests, and more. It is unclear whether the supply of free RATs and masks will be extended beyond the mid-year deadline. Initially, Covid vaccines and treatments were paid for from a separate fund provided by the government. Now, Covid vaccines and treatments need to be prioritised against all the other medicines, medical devices, vaccines, and related products funded for New Zealanders. While the Covid vaccines do not necessarily stop someone becoming infected, they remain good protection against severe illness and death from the disease.
Source:Stuff
May 29, 2024 07:57 UTC
Are we getting closer to a cashless society?
A cashless society was one of them. Basically, the premise of the article was; if we lived in a totally cashless society all our money would be in a government-controlled bank. In this futuristic cashless society, it would work like this. In this cashless society scenario how are you supposed to save for retirement? Practice the pain/ pleasure principle.
Source:Stuff
May 29, 2024 05:55 UTC
Covid cases, rules, and free stuff: What you need to know
Ahead of Budget 2024, let's recap what we know about Covid restrictions, vaccines, tests, and more. It is unclear whether the supply of free RATs and masks will be extended beyond the mid-year deadline. Initially, Covid vaccines and treatments were paid for from a separate fund provided by the government. Now, Covid vaccines and treatments need to be prioritised against all the other medicines, medical devices, vaccines, and related products funded for New Zealanders. While the Covid vaccines do not necessarily stop someone becoming infected, they remain good protection against severe illness and death from the disease.
Source:Stuff
May 29, 2024 05:02 UTC
Tower’s chairman says NZ banks are ‘missing in action’ on climate risk
Michael Stiassny, the chairman of Tower Insurance, says New Zealand’s banks are “missing in action” when it comes to taking steps to mitigate climate risks in their financial frameworks. Stiassny said the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) had called on insurers “and more notably the banks” to take action in its recent Financial Stability Report which was published in April. Tower chief executive Blair Turnbull told interest.co.nz after the briefing that while insurers had to play a lead role, climate change was a “team sport”. Suncorp NZ reported its GWP was up by almost 20% to $1.4 billion while IAG NZ reported its GWP climbing 18.8% to over $2 billion. Despite being up against some hefty Australian-owned general insurance competition, Turnbull told interest.co.nz Tower believed it could be the “leading provider of insurance”.
Source:New Zealand Herald
May 29, 2024 05:01 UTC
Reserve Bank confirms major changes to mortgage rules
The screws are tightening for home buyers, with the Reserve Bank announcing new restrictions on the amount people can borrow. The central bank has decided to introduce a DTI of six, meaning any lending over that ratio will come with special rules for banks. But it does depend how much LVR lending the bank has also made. ExemptionsThere will be some exemptions, the Reserve Bank said. Reaction from economistsWestpac's economists were quick to react to the move by the Reserve Bank today.
Source:Stuff
May 29, 2024 04:13 UTC