Robertson confirmed he had met with public service bosses on Wednesday to discuss fiscal sustainability but denied the $20 billion figure — which Peters was unable to back up. This unrealistic number was reached by calculating the difference between the Treasury's forecast tax revenue and the actual tax receipts received by the end of May. In the 11 months ended May, Core Crown tax revenue was 2.1% (or $2.2 billion) below Treasury’s forecast at $103.3 billion. These were to reprioritising money from existing services, increase tax revenue, or increase the operating allowance (in essence, use debt to fund services). Surplus stayedTreasury had forecast a very small operating surplus in 2026, but that seems unlikely with tax revenue so much lower than had been assumed.

Source: Stuff August 03, 2023 22:24 UTC