8. Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
How much has he budgeted to raise from the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal and has this figure been revised in light of the Japanese earthquake?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) Link to this
We have not budgeted on any money from the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, simply because it has been set up as a charitable trust and it is not intended to substitute for core Government responsibilities or to replicate the emergency relief support provided by Government or other charitable agencies. It may end up addressing the gap between core Government and other charitable agencies, but we are not counting on any cash from it.
Dr Kennedy Graham Link to this
If the Government is not counting on any particular amount, and essentially has no idea how much is going to come, and given that the Crown’s bill is likely to be close to $10 billion, why is he not actively considering a temporary levy on income as a way to cover the massive shortfall?
There are a range of ways we can finance the earthquake, as we have said since the earthquake occurred. In the first place, we need to get better information about what those costs will be, because the ranges given are often between $2 billion, $3 billion, and $5 billion, and then we will be considering whether the Government is going to fund those costs by taking on more debt or reprioritising its spending. The Government has been looking at tightening up its spending in any case, regardless of the earthquake.
Dr Kennedy Graham Link to this
Given that the Australian Government, whose books are actually in better shape than ours, is using a levy to pay for its disaster, rather than incurring more debt, as is the intention here, why is the Government not seriously considering one?
It has been seriously considered, and I think we have said before that our preference would be to not bring in a levy, particularly at this time when economic growth is relatively weak. Many households do feel under pressure with their incomes and concerns about their jobs, particularly in Christchurch, and we would not want to reverse direction by imposing an extra cost on the economy at a time when we all have to work pretty hard to get it up and running.