 Within a year, the government was confronted with a balance of payments crisis caused by the collapse of the price of butter in Britain (New Zealand's largest export market at the time).Nordmeyer's colleagues were reluctant to cut government spending or break expensive election promises, so Nordmeyer was left with little option but to raise taxes, which was recommended by both the Treasury and Prime Minister Walter Nash (himself a former Minister of Finance).The budget increased social security benefits but was very unpopular, not least with Labour's traditional working-class supporters.