Budget 2011: Traders get cold feet on Working for Families cuts
Traders on iPredict have had a sudden change of heart as to how big cuts to Working for Families will be.
Frenetic trading on iPredict this morning has led to a big reversal in the prediction market’s forecast cuts to the Working for Families income limits.
Earlier this morning, the consensus forecast on iPredict was that this afternoon’s Budget would see the income limit for parental tax credits for a family with four children slashed from the current $166,000 to just $112,000 next year.
But after several thousand dollars’ worth of trades in the last two hours, the market has revised that view with a new consensus forecast that the income limit will be cut to just $134,000.
If the market is accurate, it would suggest much more modest cuts to the middle-class welfare scheme than previously believed and would add fuel to criticisms by Act Leader Don Brash, among others, that the National-led government is just tinkering with the Labour Party policy, famously once described by the Opposition Leader John Key as “communism by stealth”.
Niko Kloeten
Thu, 19 May 2011
Thu, 19 May 2011
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Budget 2011: Traders get cold feet on Working for Families cuts
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