Labour
has announced $10.43 billion in new spending in Week 4 of
the Taxpayers’ Union’s Bribe-O-Meter. That is $5,034 for
every household in the country, in the space of seven
days.
Labour’s plan to build 6,000 additional state
houses, and repair schools and hospitals is costed at $4.3
billion. Its student loan policy, announced at its campaign
launch, adds a further $583 million, or $282 per
household.
But the biggest spend-up this week came
with no costings at all. Labour has committed to
progressively lifting foreign aid to 0.7 percent of Gross
National Income ‘as fiscal conditions allow’. Assuming they
take the full four year forecast period to incrementally
increase the foreign aid budget, we cost this at $5.52
billion, or $2,662 per household. We invite Labour to front
up with their own costings in their upcoming fiscal
plan.
That takes the cost of the policies Labour has
specifically announced to $33.24 billion, or $16,041 per
household. The gap between those promises and the $50.47
billion cost of its commitment to lift Core Crown
Expenditure to 33 percent of GDP has narrowed to $17
billion. Another two weeks like this one and they will blow
through it.
Most other parties have kept their cards
close. National’s announcements this week are already
accounted for in its $1.99 billion total. ACT adds another
dollar per household to its total, with noise cameras to
catch loud vehicles. We have also added the cost of a
lobbying register to both the Greens and Opportunity, at
$11.6 million each.
| Party | Spending Promise |
Cost Per Household |
|---|---|---|
| National | $1.99 billion |
$960 |
| ACT | $710 million |
$343 |
| Labour | $50.47 billion* |
$24,358* |
| NZ First |
$49.40 billion |
$23,841 |
| Opportunity | $218.41 billion |
$105,412 |
| Green Party |
$236.72 billion |
$114,245 |
| Te Pāti Māori |
Too vague to cost overall |
N/A |
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Taxpayers’
Union Head of Policy James Ross said:
“This has been a
tough week for transparency at Labour HQ. Firstly, they’ve
refused to include the cost of reinstating the pay equity
regime in their fiscal plans. Now they’ve chosen not to put
a cost to more than doubling foreign aid.”
“Taken
together, these policies would cost taxpayers $16.49
billion, or $7,957 per household. The least Kiwis deserve is
to know how Labour plan to pay for it.”
“Luckily, with
their fiscal plan expected out within the next few days,
Labour have every opportunity to make it right and front up
to Kiwis ahead of next month’s election.”
Weekly
Bribe-O-Meter updates, including our Transparency
Score Rankings, are available at www.taxpayers.org.nz/bribe_o_meter.
FAQ:
What
is the Bribe-O-Meter?
The
Bribe-O-Meter compiles the political promises of each
of the main political parties, broken down by spending
category.
The Bribe-O-Meter is about
transparency. The Taxpayers’ Union’s policy staff and
advisors will be updating the figures weekly, allowing
potential voters to assess which parties are offering value
for taxpayers’ money as the election campaign
progresses.
Current Government spending plans are used
as a baseline, so only policies that deviate from current
Government policy spending are
included.
How have you costed each
policy?
For some policies, we have taken
parties at their word. For uncosted policies, these have
been independently costed by our team. In some cases, where
parties’ costings are not reasonable or based on a
questionable assumption, independent costings have been
preferred. These costings are separately listed within the
Bribe-O-Meter. Explainers for each can be found at www.taxpayers.org.nz/bribe_o_meter_workings
Will
you work with parties to update your
figures?
Absolutely! We want to provide
the public and media with as much information as possible.
If there are errors or a party disagrees with our assessment
of their costings, we hope that the Bribe-O-Meter
will encourage the parties to provide the public with
more information and transparency.
How
often will the Bribe-O-Meter be
updated?
The Bribe-O-Meter will be
updated on a weekly basis, with updates published every week
between now and the election.
NOTES:
The
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is an independent and
membership-driven activist group, dedicated to being the
voice for Kiwi taxpayers in the corridors of power. Its
mission, lower taxes, less waste, more
accountability, is supported by 200,000 subscribed
members and
supporters.
