National is determined to return the government books to surplus.
That means they’ll be getting in more money than is going out which is the sensible way to manage finances.
That then gives the government choices about what to do with the surplus:
It could spend the money on public services.
It can rebuild the Earthquake Commission funds.
It could pay off debt.
It could lower tax rates.
I think rebuilding the Earthquake Commission funds and reducing debt should be the first priorities.
Finance Minister Bill English, in his address to the National Party conference yesterday, spoke about the dark cloud of economic problems in other parts of the world that are hovering on the horizon.
Both reducing debt and rebuilding the Earthquake Commission will make it easier for the country to face any future natural or financial crises.
Homepaddock 
Great HP to see your confidence in the govt. Just hope we can achieve that without destroying the confidence of a stll nervous population.
I think that reducing debt is important but I also think that tax reductions should be high in the order.
People have curbed spending, taken some hard financial blows and accepted low growth in the economy.
The quickest way to reflate the economy, and the least inflationary, is by reducing personal taxes across the board.There is some evidence that productivity is increasing as well and this will benefit .
That will be difficult because in many cases the largest sections of the population pay little or no tax other than the indirect GST. Labour will gnash their teeth about tax cuts for the rich,the Greens will talk about poverty but let’s face it, those who pay the most tax are the people who create the jobs. Why hammer those people !
This debate is going on in the US between the big spending “O” in the White House and the business aware Romney. “Debt” is the key word in the US,”O” says increase taxes while Romney says “cut” and stimulate through lower taxation.
Employment especially from the private sector is what is needed. What is not needed is huge spending on low quality programmes.
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Why should we “do” anything with a book surplus? It’s just a paper figure. If our company went out spending just because the books show a surplus we’d have gone broke years ago! However, if we didn’t have any debt I may feel differently. But we do, and as long as we are borrowing, we should be reinvesting in ourselves by paying back what we owe. This will improve our position for future borrowing if and when we really need to. The books showing a surplus should not be what drives spending. Here’s another good example – one month shows a large surplus so (some) Councillors now have the consideration of how to spend it: (http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/207169/dcc-surplus-nearly-10m).
Tax cuts don’t get us excited, and we pay our fair share of it. But I’d love to see the tax administration streamlined, particularly GST, so that it takes less precious time to complete returns. If GST returns could be completed once per year like income tax with provisional payments and adjustments (say for a large capital sale/purchase) through the year that would be great.
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What this country needs urgently is a huge reduction in levels ofgovernment intrusion, interferrance, regulation, fiddling and bullying. One hears of farmers having panic attacks whenever a helicopter hovers over their farm, NAIT. Thats a good one. I know of 3 farmers who are moving out of cattle on that one alone. More & more compliance, questions, forms, regulation. Higher & higher hurdles. What of the National Party Resource Management Act. Another big problem looming is costs. These are growing all the time as the unproductive sector demands more and more to fund their inefficiencies. Local government, this lot just don’t give a damn. This sector attracts mostly the lazy, the bossy, the power hungry and the inept. Oh, also the appeal of easy money. These are clearly out of control. Just last week they thumbed their nose at the Government.
We will never have tax cuts for a long time. To believe otherwise is to ignore the unbelievable mess this and other governments have dropped us in.
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