WANGANUI businessman Warren Ruscoe was hoping Michael Cullen would come up with something fabulous and more exciting to want people to get into business.
"New Zealand's not really an exciting place to be in business, and I think it's scary that more businesses are thinking of moving offshore."
Mr Ruscoe believed Mr Cullen had no idea how the average family was struggling. People in New Zealand were not paid enough, he said, and employers' margins were already slim. He compared New Zealand to Australia, and the difference between the two was that our neighbours appeared to be making people excited about going into business.
"I think Cullen has made a mistake not giving wealth back to the people who have worked hard. He could have helped the country get back on its feet."
For those who could not afford to save, Mr Ruscoe suggested they could have been given tax cuts that would go straight into the Kiwi Saver scheme.
Pacific Helmets CEO David Bennett said it was a very clever Labour Government budget with smoke and mirrors.
"When you look closely at it, long-term it rewards Labour supporters and makes employers pay all the way. There is really nothing of great moment for business owners. The drop in company tax rate does not apply until April next year.
"There will be no cash benefit to companies until provisional tax payments start in July 2008."
He said if he was Mr Cullen he would have dropped the top marginal tax rate for individuals to 30 percent, starting next April, because there were strong reasons for keeping company and personal marginal rates the same.
And for exporters like his company, Mr Bennett said an easier way to encourage R&D; and more exports would have been to offer exporters a top marginal rate of 20 percent on export sales and profits.
"This has almost zero administration and is a direct incentive to those thinking about getting into exports to make some effort."
Exporter and Axiam managing director John Oskam said he had not had time to analyse the budget, but, generally speaking, he supported Mr Cullen's ongoing approach.
"I understand the predicament he is in, not wanting to fuel inflation. The small decrease in company tax is a positive."
Laurence Boomert, of Sustainable Whanganui, said the extra money for making houses more energy efficient was an excellent step.
"This can be realised as healthier homes and less overheads for many Wanganui households while doing something about the big issue of climate change. However, while making big noises about sustainability the government couldn't actually be doing much less without facing international embarrassment."
Mr Boomert said it would be nice to see taxation adjusted to reflect the essential value of the environment, and where hundreds of millions was being allocated to finding the innovation we needed for our children to have a future.
Budget 'smoke and mirrors'
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