Budget 2024: Nicola Willis says National wasn't aware tax changes would result in 9000 earning less income

  • 02/06/2024
Finance Minister Nicola Willis
Finance Minister Nicola Willis Photo credit: Newshub

The Finance Minister says National wasn't previously aware some households would miss out on income due to the Government's tax changes.

Nicola Willis appeared on TVNZ's Q+A on Sunday morning and was asked whether some households would be worse off under the changes, which were unveiled in Thursday's Budget.

She admitted there were "two groups we have uncovered".

"One we uncovered when we put together the tax calculator - that's about 200 people - and it's about the interaction between the Independent Earner Credit and the Working for Families Credit. We're working on a solution to that," Willis told Q+A.

"The second group of people is a group of people who are always affected by tax changes and that's people who are on a benefit for only half the year. I want to be clear; we are not changing the size of their benefit - what this relates to is the size of their tax credit at the end of the year - their eligibility for tax refund reduces by about $1 a week."

Willis said about 5000 people fell under that category and another 4000 on top of that "may be affected".

"As I say, this is to do with the size of their tax refund at the end of the year," she added.

"Income in real-time... will not reduce and I think it's really important because anyone who's watching who's a beneficiary - I want them to know we're not reducing the size of your benefit."

Willis was asked why National leader Christopher Luxon didn't campaign on these possible reductions before the election.

"We weren't aware of that... There are literally hundreds of thousands of thousands of families - 3.5 million individual New Zealanders - better-off as a consequence of our tax package," she said.

National's tax package was a major part of its election campaign, to coincide with the party's promise of fixing the economy and cost of living crisis.

After the Budget was delivered on Thursday afternoon, Luxon said there was "a lot more to do".

He told an Auckland post-Budget event the current economic challenges "will pass".

Luxon was "incredibly proud to say we have met that commitment" of delivering its tax relief plan, he said.

Newshub.