Tomorrow afternoon, the Minister of Finance, Bill English, will read the Budget speech in Parliament.
What is the Budget? Every year, the government announces new policy and the cost. Some things have already been announced such as 36 more immigration officers at airports. The government also will find money for 7 new schools and 241 new classrooms for areas where there are new housing developments.
One change which will please most people is cheaper car registrations. This is because the ACC levy, which is part of a car registration, will be reduced. ACC has made a profit recently.
However, we do not know what other new policies will be in the Budget. The Children’s Commissioner hopes that there will be money to help reduce child poverty. Farmers, business people, students and many other groups all hope that the Budget has some money to help them.
Probably many people will be disappointed as the government does not have a lot of money this year. Our dairy prices and lamb prices are low and other exports are not doing well.
Type Budget in the search box to listen to news about Budgets in previous years.
Vocabulary
• policy (n) – a government plan, an action the government wants to take
• levy (n and v) – a tax
• Children’s Commissioner (n) – boss of a government organisation
• poverty (n) – people who are poor