Give something back to everyone Dr Cullen - Brash

"It's time for the Government to give something back to overtaxed New Zealanders," says National Party Leader Don Brash.

He's responding to figures released today that show the operating surplus, at $6.1 billion, is running $2.3 billion ahead of Budget forecasts.

"A continued higher-than-expected tax take is being credited as the main reason for the swelling in Government coffers, giving Labour enough room to refund some of that over-taxation," Dr Brash says.

"In the spirit of Christmas, Michael Cullen should be looking seriously at rewarding ALL the hard working New Zealanders contributing to the economy.

"National believes all income earners deserve their share of the spoils," says Dr Brash.

"New Zealand should at the very least be matching the Australian company tax rate of 30% to encourage growth and employment."

Treasury's also forecasting economic growth at about 2% per capita on average.

"It's little wonder that having seen these numbers, Labour disowned its earlier policy objective to return New Zealand to the top half of the OECD in a decade.

"On the Government's own projections, growth will be markedly slower in the next five years than it was in the last ten, " says Dr Brash.

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