Hayes Joanne: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHayes Joanne: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 22 September 2015. Volume:709;Page:6839. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.JOANNE HAYES (National) to the Minister of Finance: What progress is the Government making towards its target of returning to fiscal surplus this year and in achieving its other fiscal priorities?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Making progress on our fiscal priorities is important because it underpins the security of income for around a million New Zealanders who are dependent on the Government for their income and also the continuity of the programmes that support so many social and environmental aspirations of New Zealanders. Four years ago the Government had an $18 billion deficit. It was halved in 2012 halved again to $4.4 billion in 2013 and reduced to around $3 billion in June 2014. Returning to surplus in 2014-15 and maintaining surpluses remains one of the Government’s targets. We will know whether we have achieved that in a few weeks’ time when the Government’s final accounts for the 2014-15 year are published.Joanne Hayes: What progress has the Government made on those fiscal priorities?Hon BILL ENGLISH: We have outlined detailed fiscal priorities including for instance reductions in ACC levies and in the last Budget we signalled a $500 million reduction in ACC levies. The latest Budget forecast shows that net debt will reach just under 20 percent by 2021 which is in line with the Government’s target of getting debt down. Any further fiscal headroom from positive revenue surprises will be used to get debt down sooner but in a low inflation world it is unlikely that we will have positive revenue surprises. Over the next couple of years we have set aside extra money to allow for the possibility of modest tax cuts should fiscal and economic conditions allow.Joanne Hayes: Since the election a year ago how has the Government’s management of its finances allowed it to help more New Zealanders get ahead?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The Government has found that by managing Government expenditure carefully certainly more carefully than the previous Government we are able to support New Zealand families. For example free doctors visits and prescriptions have been extended to children under the age of 13 paid parental leave is being extended ACC levies—in particular motor vehicle registration—are being reduced and we have been able to increase benefit payments for the first time in 43 years. It shows that if we focus on value for money for the dollars that we have we can share the benefits with the New Zealanders who most need support.Joanne Hayes: What steps has the Government taken to achieve an improvement in its operating balance?Hon BILL ENGLISH: There are a number of steps that have been involved in improving the Government’s books. One has been a tax reform package back in 2010 which helped to increase labour market participation supported higher household savings and it has further broadened the base of our tax system so we collect more revenue at lower rates. Alongside that we have also focused on understanding what drives Government spending in particular those parts of our population for whom there is a lot of Government support not very well delivered.