The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the direction of
National’s newly announced “Budget Responsibility
Rules”, but says there is nothing new in the fiscal
targets and is calling on National to come clean about what
taxes it plans to hike.
Taxpayers’ Union Executive
Director Jordan Williams said:
“There is nothing new
here. Surplus by 2028/29 is already in the Budget Policy
Statement. Calling existing targets ‘Budget Responsibility
Rules’ doesn’t make them rules. A rule has consequences
when you break it. These have none.”
“If National
wants taxpayers to take these rules seriously, it should
legislate them, or at the very least spell out what happens
if a Finance Minister breaches them. Otherwise, they are
just political promises that can be shifted, redefined or
abandoned when the going gets tough. Last time the ‘rule’
was to cut spending – they clearly haven’t.”
“But
the more concerning part of today’s announcement is what
National didn’t say.”
“Speaking to media today,
National’s Leader and Finance Spokesperson put a massive
asterisk next to the ‘no new taxes’ talking point,
suggesting there could be new taxes, just not on ‘working
people’.”
“It appears National – just like
Labour – is lining New Zealand up for another tax grab.
Promising that someone else will pay isn’t fiscal prudence,
it’s the sort of fudge that got New Zealand’s finances into
a mess in the first place.”
“You can’t credibly
claim to be the party of ‘lower taxes’ while going into
an election offering no tax relief, allowing income taxes to
rise through fiscal drag, and apparently foreshadowing
higher taxes on someone other than
‘workers’.”
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“At minimum, Nicola Willis needs to
be transparent about what taxes she’s planning to
hike.”
“What does ‘no new taxes on working
people’ actually mean? What about businesses? Motorists?
Property owners? New levies dressed up as charges? National
needs to tell voters now what, or who, it has in
mind.”
“If National really is the party of lower
taxes, this should be easy. Nicola Willis should simply
promise: no new taxes, no increases to existing tax rates,
and no new levies designed to get around that
promise.”
“All roads lead back to the Government’s
failure to cut spending.”
“At the last election,
Nicola Willis stood before voters and committed to cutting
spending. Instead, spending has gone up, both in
inflation-adjusted terms and as a proportion of the economy.
Every dollar of the Government’s much-vaunted
‘savings’ has been recycled into new
spending.”
“National’s fiscal objectives are
sensible, and we welcome them. But taxpayers don’t need
another set of targets without teeth. They need spending
restraint they can see, fiscal rules with consequences, and
an unequivocal guarantee that National won’t balance the
books by reaching deeper into someone else’s
pocket.”
