Why the Christmas mini-budget will be so hard to write

National's Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon. (Image: NZME)

Tue, 07 Nov 2023

Having successfully predicted the new government would want to do a mini-budget some days before such an intention was announced, this column will attempt comparable perspicacity by predicting what will be in it.The short answer: not as much as the term mini-budget - even with mini in it - would imply.The reason: the fiscal situation the government faces is dire, and the answers to fixing it are either complicated, too draconian to be politically survivable or involve jettisoning or hugely delaying most of National’s pre-election tax prom...

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