新西兰英语 284 The Budget

　　Listen first to yesterday’s podcast, What is the Budget?
There were only a few surprises in today’s Budget. One was about tax cuts. All workers, the rich and the poor, will pay less income tax. People earning less than $14,000 a year will pay 10.5% income tax from Oct 1st instead of 12.5% which they now pay. Tax on incomes from $14,000 to $48,000 will reduce from 21% to 17.5%. This includes about three quarters of all New Zealand workers. Tax on incomes from $48,000 to $70,000 will reduce from 33% to 30% and people earning more than $70,000 will pay 33% from Oct 1st instead of 38%. People on benefits will receive an increase of 2%.
However, GST will increase to 15% from Oct 1st. The Minister of Finance¹ says that because of the tax cuts we will be better off. The extra income will be more than the extra GST we will pay. Also, people on high incomes spend more so they pay more GST.
People who invest² in property will not be able to claim a loss of income so easily. It is possible that many rental³ properties will now be sold instead which could bring down house prices. It is also possible that people will invest in business instead of property.
Company tax will decrease from 30% to 28%. The government hopes that this will help business.
Early childhood centres which have more than 80% qualified⁴ staff will lose their extra funding. This means that all centres will receive the same funding even if the teachers are not trained. Parents may have to pay if they want their children to have qualified teachers.
The Prime⁵ Minister says that the Budget is trying to do three things: help families, encourage New Zealanders to stay here instead of moving to Australia, and encourage savings⁶.
Questions to think about
How important is it to have trained teachers in early childhood centres? Many people will say that mothers have no training.
Do you think we should have GST on fruit and vegetables?
Why are savings important to the economy?
Numbers to listen for:
Can you catch all the figures about incomes and tax? Listen again.

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 invest   

v.投资；投入(时间等)；授予，赋予

参考例句：

• I have decided to invest in a new car.我已经决定买一辆新汽车。
• The best time to invest is now.现在是投资的最佳时机。

3 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

4 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

5 prime   

adj.首要的，主要的；最好的，第一流的

参考例句：

• The prime minister spoke of the general insecurity in the country.总理谈到了全国普遍存在的不安全。
• He met with the Prime Minister of Japan for an hour.他和日本首相会见了一个小时。

6 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。