The Opposition has played on National's own 'Back on Track' slogan, saying today's Budget will take New Zealand backwards.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the Government has delivered a "Budget of broken promises".
"For months, New Zealand families were promised $250 extra a week – in reality this is going to a tiny percentage of the population," Hipkins said.
"While the minimum wage worker gets their 30 cents an hour in tax cuts, their hopes of buying a home has been ripped away. Saving money has become harder with the loss of half price public transport, free prescriptions, and the first home grant."
He criticised the Government for scrapping smokefree legislation, not delivering its 13 new cancer drug funding and no new initiatives for Māori.
Labour also called out the Government for its level of borrowing, saying the Budget will take New Zealand "backwards". The Budget revealed the Government borrowing programme over the next four years will be increased by $12 billion from December's forecast.
"The Finance Minister managed to find $2.9 billion for landlords, but only 30 cents an hour for minimum wage workers in a tax cut plan they swore they wouldn’t borrow for," Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said.
"Time and time again the Finance Minister said they are not borrowing for tax cuts, but debt is forecast to rocket up by 43.5 percent of GDP. This Government is borrowing for tax cuts."
The Green Party said the Budget is "cake for those at the top, crumbs for almost everyone else".
Green Party co-leader and finance spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick said the Government has pledged an alliance to inequality through an "unfair and unproductive" tax system.
The Greens have been pushing for a wealth tax citing an Inland Revenue investigation that found the wealthiest 311 families in New Zealand paid a median effective tax rate of 9.4 percent – half the rate that ordinary New Zealanders pay.
"That's not an accident," Swarbrick said. "It's a direct consequence of political decisions, like those made by the Government today, to keep these unfair settings in place."
The Government revealed today the details of its promised tax cuts, which will come into effect from July 31 in the form of adjusting tax brackets.
For an average-income household, under the tax changes, they should receive an extra $102 a fortnight ($51 a week). The Greens claim an average family of four would have received an extra $288 each week under the Green Party's tax plan.
The Greens also hit out at the Government's cutting funding of programmes in the Emissions Reduction Plan.
"This Government has slashed and burned almost all climate and environmentally minded policy whilst pouring coal, oil and gas over the roaring climate crisis fire. Today's Budget has seen funding from almost every major programme in the Emissions Reduction Plan absolutely gutted," Swarbrick said.
Meanwhile, Te Pāti Māori declared it was setting up its own Māori Parliament.
"We will no longer let decisions made by this house determine our oranga. The oranga of our people, our mokopuna the land and te iwi Māori katoa," Te Pāti Māori said.
"We now begin the process of establishing our own Parliament. Our people will design what this looks like for us, nobody else."
