新西兰英语 283 What is the Budget?

　　Tomorrow afternoon, the Minister of Finance¹, Bill English, will read the Budget in Parliament. The Budget tells us how much money the government expects to have next year and how the government plans to spend it.
The Prime Minister has already talked about some of these things so don’t expect big surprises. We know that GST will probably be increased to 15%. We know there will be income tax cuts but rich people will get a bigger tax cut than poor people. The Prime Minister said this is because the rich people are the ones who will help our economy. On the other hand, rich people know some clever, legal ways to avoid tax like putting their income into a Trust or investing in property. The government said it will close these loopholes in the laws so these people will have to pay more tax. Of course if landlords have to pay more tax, they could increase the rent.
There will be $750m for Kiwi Rail so that it can carry more freight², especially from Auckland to Christchurch. At the moment, a lot of freight is carried by trucks. New passenger trains are needed in Auckland and Wellington also.
There will be some more money for health and education but not enough to please everybody.
The Prime Minister suggested that pre-school education is costing too much so there may be some changes to the 20 hours free education for children aged³ 3 to 5. However, if parents have to pay, this would be very unpopular.
We need to wait until tomorrow for the details.
Questions to think about
1. Is GST a fair way to make sure everyone pays tax?
2. Do you think pre-school education should be free for 3-year olds?
3. Why does health spending keep increasing?

1 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

2 freight   

n.货物，货运；vt.运送（货物）看，装货于

参考例句：

• Tons of freight were flown into this airport every day.每天有许多吨货物被空运到这个机场。
• There is ten yuan in the bill for freight.发票中包括运费十元。

3 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。