DOC’s largest boost since 2002

Green Party co-leader James Shaw is calling Budget 2018 the ‘‘greenest Budget in living memory’’ with the largest boost to conservation funding since 2002.

Budget 2018 delivers

$618 million over four years to Green Party policies, about

5.4 per cent of the $11.4 billion in new operational spending allocated in the total Budget.

Seven of the party’s 20 pledges it won during coalition negotiations are included – with an aim to get the other ones rolled into future Budgets.

A big chunk of the funding is

$181.6m over four years for the Department of Conservation – the largest boost since 2002. The party campaigned on doubling the DoC budget, however doesn’t manage that.

‘‘After years of neglect and piecemeal funding, Budget 2018 ensures that DoC can plan ahead and target the pests that are devastating the habitats of New Zealand’s unique species,’’ Conservation Minister and Green MP Eugenie Sage said.

The money will go towards ‘‘landscape-scale predator control’’, biodiversity initiatives, core capability, and better visitor management.

‘‘Budget 2018 will lock in ongoing funding for predatorcontrol programmes like the Battle for Our Birds. Instead of DoC having to scramble and shift funding every year from other priorities, this work will now have secure ongoing funding as part of the department’s baseline,’’ Sage said.

this

boost

Another Green win is a $100m Green Investment Fund aimed at stimulating private sector investment into low-emission projects.

‘‘The fund will be established by the end of 2018. There is an expectation it will repay initial Crown operational funding once it is self-sustaining,’’ Shaw said.

‘‘In places like Australia, the United Kingdom and some US states, green investment funds have been hugely successful, attracting capital to fund lowcarbon transitions and reduce climate pollution.’’

The Green Party – as it has in the past – also won money for a new insulation and heating scheme, which will deliver $142.5m in grants for low-income homeowners to heat and insulate their homes.

‘‘Today’s Budget represents a measured approach to the implementation of our confidence and supply agreement over this term of government,’’ Shaw said.

‘‘It is our anticipation that the remaining measures will be met over future Budgets.’’

The party has had some other wins, including the end of new oil and gas exploration permits and pledged funding for light rail in Auckland. Businesses face a fresh tax crackdown that Revenue Minister Stuart Nash expects will raise an extra $183 million in tax over the next four years.

Inland Revenue got an extra

$31m in the Budget, over the next four years, to pay for more resources to ensure company tax returns are filed. The Government will also consider extra moves revealed in a Tax Working Group paper last week to expand the use of withholding taxes and checks on websites that support the ‘‘gig economy’’.

Overall, the Government is forecasting an additional $726m of tax revenue over the four-year period, from the extra enforcement measures and from the Government’s previously announced ‘‘Amazon tax’’ and ringfencing of investors’ tax losses on rental properties.

It expects to raise $218m over four years from the Amazon tax, and $325m from the property investment change.

But tax experts suggest the extra income Inland Revenue expects from the Amazon tax is likely to be a massive underestimate, and it is likely to net at least

$200m a year once fully implemented. If correct, the total additional tax the Government can expect over four years from the combination of measures would be closer to $1 billion.

The Amazon tax – which is a proposal that is out for public consultation – would see foreign firms that sell more than $60,000 worth of goods to New Zealanders, collecting GST on items worth less than $400 shipped directly to consumers, from October next year.

Nash said creating more ‘‘fairness’’ in the tax system was critical to the Government’s commitment to fiscal responsibility.

‘‘This Government’s plan includes adequately funding health, education and housing, increasing police numbers and lifting more children out of poverty. We are not changing tax rates. But we do need a tax system that is simple, balanced and fair,’’ he said.