Bad budget, confirmed!

[Local Christchurch Woolston resident Paul McMahon was recently featured on the front page of The Press regarding the effects of the Budget on himself and his family. Here he lets us know what he has decided.]

Just recently my wife Anne, son Enda and I appeared in a post-Budget article on the front page of The Press under the headline "Father expects family to be no better off".

I've done the numbers more rigorously now and I still stand by that: National's 2010 Budget will not leave my family and I any better off.

If we do the maths on how much we will get from tax cuts minus the GST increase, we get an extra $4.84 per week, but factor in a projected 5.9% increase in inflation and consequent interest rate rises on our mortgage, and there is very little chance that paltry amount is going to make any difference.

I may get a pay increase in line with inflation, but I'm not sure many people on similar incomes will. Wages tend to lag behind inflation for workers, while their CEOs seem to get bonuses every year. That extra inflation may be a once-off increase, but so is the tax cut - so we're back to square one. We're not going to be any better off and in fact are likely to be worse off.

Now, my wife and I have chosen to live on one income and to have one of us home with Enda. But, we could put Enda into childcare. However, National has decided to cut funding to childcare too. That hits families who need to send another parent out to work with a triple wammy of GST, inflation and increased childcare costs, which doesn't seem fair.

It is not a budget for families like us who earn below the average income; it's a budget for the 25% of income earners who earn above it.