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To JRT
    Budget 95
    No surprises
    from The Jobs Letter No.19 / 17 June 1995

    "Tonight's Budget is about building a prosperous and inclusive society on the strong foundations that are now in place. It is about maintaining a strong economy, it's about educating our children, it's about reducing the debt that our children will owe in the future. It's about giving more people the opportunity to work, and giving those people in work the opportunity to earn more, and move into better jobs over their lifetimes..."
    -- Bill Birch, on Budget Night

    " To the beneficiaries, the lowly paid, the unemployed, the elderly, and the sick, without whose sacrifice this record budget surplus wouldn't be possible, we say ... keep it up ! "
    - -`Bill Birch', as portrayed in a Tom Scott Budget cartoon

  • PREDICTABILITY
    Under the new process of the Fiscal Responsibility Act there were few surprises in the Budget, with the announcement mainly filling in the gaps of previously announced spending measures.

  • SURPLUS
    Forecast at $3.28 billion in the year to June 1996, rising to $5.44 billion in 1997 and $7.8 billion in 1998. Most of this will go to paying off debt.

  • TAX CUTS
    There is much more in the public purse for tax cuts than we expected ... but we'll have to wait for further announcements to get the details. No detailed announcements on the benefit abatement rates.

  • GROWTH TO BE HALVED.
    The forecasts are based on economic growth slowing to about 3% annually over each of the next two years. This compares to the growth rate of 5.9% in the March 1995 year.

  • EMPLOYMENT
    Growth in new jobs is expected to slow down over the next few years.

  • WELFARE
    Spending on welfare programmes is expected to rise by $87m in the coming year and $80m in each of the following two years. All but $24m of this spending had already been announced.

  • EDUCATION
    The big winner of the Budget with increases in spending reflecting rising school rolls and the number of student places the government will buy off private education providers. Total school, university and early childhood spending is up $79m this year with $184m to be spent on new schools and classrooms, and an extra $20m for private schools. $1.9m will be spent encouraging former teachers back into the profession.

  • TRAINING
    .Skill New Zealand's industry training fund for apprenticeships and skills training gets an extra $14m this year, and $59m over three years.

  • SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS
    Funding increased by $3m a year for more counsellors.

  • SINGLE PARENTS
    An extra $5m for the Compass programmes that will help sole parents back into work, bringing their total budget to $27m.

  • SICKNESS AND INVALID BENEFITS
    Plans to cut spending on invalid benefits by $60 million over 3 years by giving tougher tests to beneficiaries.

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