Budget 2010

Tourism New Zealand is getting $25 million to sell New Zealand to visitors during the lead up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Positive signs are evident in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released today for the last quarter of 2009, but more work is needed for a sustainable recovery that creates jobs and lifts incomes, Finance Minister Bill English says.

Property values across New Zealand are 6.1 percent above the same time last year and 3.9 percent below the market peak of late 2007, according to the QV residential property indices for April.

The Labour Party is warning of savage cuts to social services as the Government prepares to shift $1.8 billion of "lower quality" spending to high priority areas.

Science, innovation and technology will be given a strong focus in next week's Budget, Prime Minister John Key says.

Fruit and vegetable growers fear they will be the losers if a plan to increase GST goes ahead.

Prime Minister John Key has rejected suggestions by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the Government needs to go further in cutting spending, saying plenty of progress is already being made in that area.

Over a year out from the next general election and a month before this year's budget is revealed National and Labour are butting heads about the best way to tax New Zealanders.

It was crucial New Zealand remained competitive with Australia in tax rates as this country looked to attract both labour and capital, Deloitte associate tax director Peter Truman said yesterday.

New Zealand businesses and the Government have under-invested in research and development and need to change the trend now, the Prime Minister's chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, says.

Australia's planned corporate tax rate of 28 percent will have to be at least matched by New Zealand, otherwise investment will flow to Australia, Business New Zealand says.

The Government remains committed to interest-free student loans but needs to take significant steps to reduce the spiralling costs and use of the scheme, Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce says.

A bowel cancer screening pilot costing $24 million over the next four years will be funded in the May 20 budget, Health Minister Tony Ryall said today.

People who have finished their tertiary studies but are still paying off student loans are likely to be hit with an annual administration fee.

A $234-million-dollar investment boost in research and development for business will help lift the country's economic performance, Prime Minister John Key said yesterday.

Research, science and technology will be a major recipient of funding with the Government pumping $321 million into the sector in next week's budget.

Finance Minister Bill English yesterday warned that big-spending budgets were a thing of the past and that he would be focusing next month on a "clear message of restraint".

A household with an income of $65,000 a year is likely to be better off by around $12 a week under tax changes in the upcoming budget, according to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER).

Finance Minister Bill English should avoid using extreme examples and making "kneejerk reactions" when considering changes to the tax system to be announced in the Budget.

New Zealand this week had its country ratings upgraded by Dun and Bradstreet. MYOB Business Monitor said the slow spread of the economic recovery has been mixed across the regions. So where does New Zealand's economy sit about a month out from the Government's much-lauded Budget? Business editor Dene Mackenzie investigates.