There is no free lunch when it comes to austerity

Finance Minister Nicola Willis. (Image: NZME)

Thu, 01 May 2025

A zero 2025 Budget. A zippo net increase in new initiative spending beyond what we already know, or the Government has pre-committed to in health.In a speech this week, Minister of Finance Nicola Willis declared this year's operating allowance, which is the money available for new initiatives (either spending or revenue), was being lowered from $2.4 billion to $1.3b.To put that in perspective, the 2024 Budget was a $3.2b per year package, and that was the lowest operating allowance since Budget 2018. Inflation rose around 25% between the 20...

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