Bribe-O-Meter Week 5: $18 Billion Gap In Labour’s Fiscal Plan; Greens’ Spending Plans Approach Quarter Of A Trillion

Labour has released its pre-election fiscal plan, which
it calls “fully costed and fully funded”. Week
5 of the Taxpayers’ Union’s Bribe-O-Meter begs to
differ.

We have costed Labour’s announcements at
$33.17 billion, or $16,007 per household. Excluding existing
Government spending commitments, Labour’s plan lays out
$15.25 billion of new spending over four years, including
$4.13 billion of capital.

The difference between what
Labour has promised and what it has costed is $17.9 billion
by our calculations, or $8,649 per household.

The
biggest omission is pay equity. Treasury projects the cost
of reinstating the regime at $10.97 billion ($5,295 per
household). Labour’s plan costs only the $4-an-hour care
worker pay rise, about a quarter of that. Foreign aid
increases (which will cost $5.52 billion if Labour reach 0.7
percent of GNI by 2031, but they still refuse to put a
timeframe to this) and state-owned enterprise dividends
diverted to the Future Fund ($2.78 billion), all add heavily
to the bill.

Labour’s plan also contained a $146.8
million error over the four years to 2031, banking the cost
of reversing the Government’s rent and accommodation
supplement changes as a $73.4 million saving over the
period. We have corrected this in our total, and Labour have
agreed to fix it in their fiscal plan.

Elsewhere, the
Greens are now so far ahead that we might need to extend the
graph. Their total has hit $242.28 billion, or $116,931 per
household, driven this week by an increase in their rail
funding pledges to $21.07 billion for rail and light rail
and $1.28 billion for taxpayer-funded and capped public
transport fares.

National adds $1.85 billion for the
first stage of the Mill Road project, taking its total to
$3.84 billion. ACT’s plan to end the Government KiwiSaver
contribution for members with employer contributions would
save $2.59 billion. That makes ACT the first party this
election season to promise a net reduction in spending,
taking its total to a $1.88 billion saving.

In the
transparency tracker, we have moved Labour down a full star,
to 2 stars, for leaving $18 billion of its promises out of
its fiscal plan.

Taxpayers’
Union Head of Policy James Ross said:

“Credit where
it’s due, Labour has released its fiscal plan. It’s just
a shame the plan is $18 billion short of the policies it’s
supposed to be funding – that’s $8,649 per household
Labour is hoping nobody notices.”

“Labour has
agreed to fix one mistake in its fiscal plan this week.
While it’s got the calculator out, it might want to add
the rest of its promises.”

“All of that pales next
to Labour’s would-be coalition partner, with the Greens
closing in on a quarter of a trillion dollars in new
spending. That’s $117,000 per household. Before they
announce the next spending spree, they owe taxpayers an
explanation of how they expect to foot the
bill.”

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.

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