Larry Williams: Another beige budget

Larry Williams says there is no sign of fiscal restraint in Budget 2015.

Opinion

Another Bill English beige Budget. No courage. Steady as you go. Risk averse. Tinkering. Fiddling with the numbers. Pity.

The deficit at $684 million is no big deal...now. But think about it. We have the lag of a $7 billion hit to the economy through lower dairy prices coming, China and Australia growth is slowing, record low inflation, and our growth is trending south. The forecast for 2015/16 is for a surplus of $176 million. A surplus is fantasy land stuff.

The government has caved in to the lefty liberals who wanted more welfare for so-called "child poverty". They have thrown $25 a week more at beneficiary families. It's not exclusive but I don't see "child poverty" in this country, I see parental neglect. Bad parenting. Bad choices. More welfare cheque's means more inter-generational welfare dependency. We all want to help disadvantaged children but the problem is more about dead-beat parents. $25 a week won't change that. If you want to see "child poverty" try China or Africa or South America.

What this Budget is about, is tinkering around edges. Slashing the $1000 Kiwisaver kick-start payment and moving it across to welfare is just shuffling money around.

There is no fiscal restraint.

The Finance Minister needed to bite the bullet and cut government expenditure further. Taxpayer money is being thrown at Ministries, NGO's and feel good programmes. Corporate welfare is rampant. Out of control race based grants. It's wasting tax payers money. Worse, the government knows all this and does nothing. Oh, did I mention the $49.8 million for Whanau Ora - whatever that is.

Credit where credit is due. English is a fiscal scrooge and we should be grateful. He's done a remarkable job with the books considering what he had to deal with. The GFC, the Christchurch quake, the world economic uncertainty. It could be a lot worse. Just look at Australia.

Video: Economics editor Brian Fallow - This is a tight-fisted budget:

Freeing up Crown land to build affordable houses in Auckland has merit. Something had to be done to reign in supply. Auckland council impotence won't get the job done.

The problem I have with the Budget is the lack of courage.

- need I mention the interest free student loans again. The biggest election bribe ever (thanks Helen) and we're still stuck with it.

- Working for Families - if you're on $100k a year, you don't need a handout.

- a tax system that allows property investors to offset their mortgage expenses against personal income is an unfair playing field. No wonder house prices are out of control in Auckland.

- the fiscal elephant in the room is NZ Superannuation. John Key won't even talk about it. Ridiculous.

A Budget of missed opportunity - again.