The wellbeing budget is a genuinely big idea, and deserves to transcend a messy week, writes Duncan Greive. Nineteen-thirty-four was not a good year for the USA. Five years into the Great Depression, and five years from the worst world war. The economy stubbornly static, dangerous fascists rising across the Atlantic, the dust bowl at … Read more
Despite dominating the political agenda for much of the year, tax was barely mentioned in the budget. That doesn’t mean the work there is over, writes Greg Thompson of Grant Thornton New Zealand. Budget 2019 was strangely silent on all things tax – odd given the level of investment and attention the Tax Working Group … Read more
Recognising that mental health is affected by the environment we live means we can focus on getting the fence built at the top of the cliff rather than the therapist at the bottom, writes Olivia Wills. The build-up to the world-first “wellbeing” budget was anything but dull. With documents leaked and a hack which was … Read more
Labour’s debut wellbeing budget is a solid jump to the social spending left but could hardly be described as transformational, writes Maria Slade in Wellington. With its wood panelling and forest green décor parliament’s neo-classical 1920s debating chamber has a surprisingly inviting feel. Normally a humble business reporter based on Auckland’s CBD fringe, I felt … Read more
The stakes are high for Grant Robertson’s much heralded Wellbeing Budget in the year delivery. What are the expert verdicts? Susan St John: Creditable, but not good enough The government deserves credit for the reframing of the budget to reflect human wellbeing outcomes. This modernisation is well overdue. The new approach should mean there is … Read more
The commitments in today’s budget are to be welcomed, but they could use some better defined targets to focus ambitions, writes former Reserve Bank chairman Arthur Grimes Wellbeing budgets have been delivered every year since the 1890s when the Liberal government introduced old-age pensions, free primary education and built the first state houses. In 1905, Prime … Read more
Budget 2019: Fresh from the parliamentary budget lockup, Spinoff business editor Maria Slade summarises the funding announcements from Labour’s first Wellbeing Budget. Mental health services, KiwiRail, beneficiaries and startup companies are some of the big winners on a government budget day that has otherwise been dominated by accusations of leaking and calls for ministers’ heads. … Read more
Budget 2019: What are the Ardern government’s much-talked about Budget Responsibility Rules, and why doesn’t it have to stick to them? When the Labour government came to power in 2017 it set itself five rules of engagement for handling the country’s money. The Budget Responsibility Rules are self-imposed and do not have any legal standing, … Read more
Budget 2019: Unless we can find some way of taxing wealth as well as incomes, New Zealand is headed for an intergenerational economic meltdown, writes Grant Thornton tax partner Murray Brewer. It’s hard to get your head around how much money the government has. The slew of spending announcements in the run-up to Budget Day makes … Read more
The 2019 budget is coming out this Thursday, and with it a whole bunch of impenetrable jargon. We’ve picked out some of the key words to keep in mind as it is being read. A Ambitious The last budget was typically described as ambitious. Now the word gets thrown around a lot to describe the … Read more
Budget 2019: Should the collection of taxes be the point at which we talk about fairness, or should fairness be part of a completely different conversation, asks Grant Thornton tax partner Oksana Simonoff. It’s counter-intuitive, but when we talk about tax fairness we aren’t really talking about tax. We’re really talking about politics, economics and … Read more
Budget 2019: Opposition finance spokesperson Amy Adams on the rhetoric behind the first wellbeing budget, coming later this week. This week will see the Labour-led government produce their much hyped ‘wellbeing budget’. That of course raises the questions of what wellbeing means, how it is assessed and how this budget will be any different to … Read more
Now that we know what the Wellbeing Budget is, the question is how we can create the right political and social environment to support it, says Grant Thornton’s Barry Baker. Growing up in Southland in a single-parent home, my family relied on the Domestic Purposes Benefit and the generosity of charities like Birthright. During that … Read more
If the wellbeing budget is going to do something about the long-term productivity of the country, it must address the growing gap between digital haves and have-nots, writes Grant Thornton’s Helen Fortune. Many fear that increasing digitisation and automation will result in the mass loss of jobs. But that’s not what happened when the first … Read more
This month sees a landmark moment in the economic approach of the Ardern government, with the first ‘wellbeing Budget’ unveiled. How is it different, and what can we expect? Maria Slade sits down with the finance minister, Grant Robertson Grant Robertson isn’t Peter Jackson and the Treasury can’t do Weta-Workshop-level special effects, but the finance … Read more