If you didn’t like this year’s Budget, just wait until the superannuation one – Editorial

Finance Minister Nicola Willis during the reading of Budget 2025. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Editorial

THREE KEY FACTS

• A Talbot Mills Research poll found 33% of respondents viewed the Government’s Budget as bad.
• Only 9% believed the Budget would benefit them personally, while 34% said it would be bad.
• Finance Minister Nicola Willis introduced changes to KiwiSaver, with 80% of members expected to benefit.

New Zealanders were asked, and it turns out the Government’s Budget is not all that popular with voters.

According to the results of a Talbot Mills Research poll, 33% of respondents said the Budget was bad when asked if it will be good for the country overall, bad or wouldn’t make much difference.

Only 22% thought it would be good.

David Talbot, the director of Talbot Mills Research, said it was the worst result for a Government’s Budget in nearly 30 years of polling.

When those polled were asked if they thought the Budget would be good for them personally, only 9% said it would, while 34% of respondents said it would be bad.

So, bad news indeed for the Government or is it just a sign of the times?

It is possible the answers are more a reflection of the current economic conditions and a government reacting with a reluctance to hand out any lollies for a short-term sugar hit.

As this newspaper said in an editorial after Budget day, Finance Minister Nicola Willis had delivered a blunt but needed message to Kiwis.

Times are tough, and the pressures on the sustainability of our public finances are only building with time.

Everyone, and certainly the policy wonks in Wellington and those in Treasury, can see the challenges we face on the horizon.

Whether it was Willis or another Finance Minister, changes had to be made to KiwiSaver. There is an argument that Willis could have, and should have, gone further with her reforms.

After all, more amendments to ensure affordability and security in retirement will be required. But credit should be given for Willis being the first to not simply kick that can down the road.

Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson has said the changes will mean 80% of KiwiSaver’s 3.3 million members will be better off.

The Government’s big Budget play was the establishment of Investment Boost, a new tax incentive to allow businesses to deduct 20% of the cost of a new asset immediately from their taxable income on top of normal depreciation.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Cabinet have bet on the market to help this country out of the hole and see us prosper in the future.

The days of universal state support at the levels we have come to expect are likely to be slowly coming to an end. We should expect this trend to continue and we should be preparing for an ongoing debate about what services to keep funding.

So, if New Zealanders didn’t like this year’s Budget, just wait until they read the Budget that means-tests and raises the age of superannuation.

That may well be the worst poll Mr Talbot has seen.

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