Minister's Executive Summary
Budget 2010 is part of a programme of considered, broad-based reform
Budget 2010 marks a new phase in the Government's economic strategy. Last year's Budget was focused on getting New Zealand through the worst global crisis in living memory. The Government's economic management struck a balance between softening the impact of the recession, providing fiscal stimulus and maintaining control of the country's finances.
This Budget is about our long-term objective of lifting New Zealand's growth rate and New Zealanders' living standards. It is designed to strengthen the recovery, help New Zealand families get ahead and maintain sound government finances.
The key features of Budget 2010 are an improvement in the fiscal outlook through spending discipline and shifting resources to those areas that really matter, and an overhaul of the tax system that will better reward work and savings and make the system fairer. The Budget continues the process of shifting the economy away from borrowing, consumption and Government spending and back towards saving, investing in productive areas and exporting.
