BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope said some of the big ticket items in the Budget would help support business growth.

“An investment of $28 billion over 10 years in Auckland transport will improve infrastructure in our largest city, helping support the ability of business to grow and employ more.

“Large investments, in the Provincial Growth Fund and the Green Investment Fund, will also support the ability of businesses to grow and innovate using new technologies.

“And the establishment of an R&D tax credit will boost the support available to businesses that need to invest in innovation to become more competitive.”

Mr Hope said other spending, including $3.9 million to counter major cyber threats or events, was well-placed to address business vulnerabilities such as cybercrime.

He said other spending items were less obviously positive for business.

“The Budget allows full tax deductibility for racing industry bloodstock. Full capital tax deductibility helps to increase investment in technology, capital and grow productivity, which is important for all businesses. Business believes capital deductibility should be available to all businesses and industries, not just racing.

“The Budget also announces a new unit to oversee councils’ consistency of compliance with the Resource Management Act. This may help address some of the RMA’s problems, however council inconsistency is not the only or most significant problem with the RMA. Business continues to seek fundamental reform to this Act rather than a new compliance unit or other marginal changes.”

And from the EMA……………………

Budget 2018: Long on welfare, short on productivity

 

Budget 2018 announced today revealed that the country’s books are in good order and the Government intends to maintain surpluses over the coming parliamentary term.

In his first budget, Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, predicted continuing growth of 3.0 per cent, along with a surplus of $3.1 billion for this financial year.

“We are pleased to see a balanced budget being announced off the back of the strong economic fundamentals supporting the New Zealand economy. And naturally, we would expect a Labour-led Government to look to redistribute wealth as was announced in the social housing and health allocations in this budget,” says Kim Campbell, CEO, EMA.

“From a business perspective, many of the big announcements have already been made, such as the tax incentives for research and development, the $28 billion transport package for Auckland over 10 years along with increases to the minimum wage, pay equity settlements and so forth.

“We note that $24 billion more expenditure is planned over the next four years as part of today’s announcement.

“However, the big question from this budget is how will this drive productivity?” says Mr Campbell.

“The Government’s ability to deliver strong results does come off the back of rising corporate profits and subsequent tax take. If business confidence starts to turn, or we see a hunker down mentality where plans for growth and investment are shelved, where will this leave us? ,” he says.

“For example, how resilient are we if another global financial crisis or natural disaster hits our economy?

“Also, one of the biggest issues on the mind of business is how the proposed changes to industrial relations will impact their operations. No one would disagree with wanting to build a more productive, more sustainable and more inclusive economy, but we are deeply concerned with how the various changes proposed for the workplace will enable this,” says Mr Campbell.

Mr Campbell added that business would be wanting further clarity on the plan to introduce a legally binding emissions reduction target.