Budget nous will help us all

THE annual Government Budget is always about how to spend the nation’s money.

It is important that the people who read this newspaper are not excluded from this event and start to become better informed over financial matters.

Accountants, lawyers and economists often talk in a jargon that makes a lot of people feel that they are too thick to participate in a financial debate.

It is important that your eyes do not glaze over and that budgets are seen for what they are, as very basic tools.

Government comes down to choosing where you will spend the money to advance the interests of the nation.

Some budgets are all about advancing the interests of the Government and its mates, not necessarily the nation.

To be fair, the National government has a number of problems it must navigate through.

Global financial problems persist with the United Kingdom now in recession and the Greeks going backwards. Our exports come under pressure and prices, along with demand, fall. In fact, the tax take over the past four years has dropped by $15 billion.

The Christchurch rebuild is large, costly and complex. It will not provide economic stimulation by itself, and remember, it is being funded in large part by debt.

The National government has maxed out our credit card. It is promising a return to surplus by election year 2013-2014.

This promise is based on our economy growing on average at 3% a year. It is based on our economy, in light of the above circumstances, producing tens of thousands of new jobs

Money has been moved or ‘‘reprioritised’’ in the jargon, to water down immediate difficulties.

For example, many low-income students are also second-chance learners. They, on average, will take between 5 and 6 years of tertiary study to obtain a qualification because they come off a low educational base and are on struggle street financially.

A car breakdown sets off a domino effect and this small matter can force a young mother to surrender tertiary study.

This government will penalise her because it has capped study support at four years. The bonus to her, of course, is she will get 6-monthly free contraceptive jabs. This is merely one of many meanspirited policies that will lead to cost blowouts within the next five to 10 years. It will hurt low-income communities.