Willis borrows an extra $12b to pay for $14.7b of tax cuts

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey · May 30, 2024 · 22m

TL;DR: Finance Minister Nicola Willis has delivered her first Budget, deciding to go ahead with long-promised tax cuts despite a weaker economy that is forcing the new Government to borrow a net extra $68.3 billion by mid-2028.

The income tax cuts are costing $14.7 billion over four years. Net debt will rise by 68.3 billion to over $220.7 billion over that period, which is $12 billion more than Treasury forecast in December. Willis argued the tax cuts were ‘fully-funded’ by spending cuts and a bunch of little fees and tax increases, and therefore she was not borrowing to pay for tax cuts…