The ultimate in knee-jerk spending decisions

Michael Cullen is so desperate to reduce the surplus, that he is now making major spending decisions, just *four weeks* after the budget, based simply on *one month’s* tax receipts being over budget. Even Mickey Mouse would be horrified if his name was applied to this.

I am all for spending more on the roads. But by jeeves you don’t just sit there month by month and say “Hey last month got us some extra dosh, so lets spend it now”. What the hell has happened to budget cycles and fiscal credibility.

Incidentially National’s pledge to spend all the petrol tax on the roads, is costed as part of the long-term sustainability of doing so, not a desperate pre-election gimmick to lower the surplus before Treasury has to publish PREFU.