Bribe-O-Meter Week 9: Labour Manifesto Adds $1.2 Bn Unfunded Benefits Blunder; Greens, Opportunity As Biggest Spenders

The
surprises keep coming in the final Bribe-O-Meter of the 2026
campaign, with Labour’s manifesto adding more than $1.2
billion to its spending promises. This takes their total to
$35.45 billion, or $17,109 per household.

The biggest
addition is a promise to raise benefits by the higher of
inflation or average wage growth, rather than just
inflation. Despite appearing in their manifesto, there is no
mention of this at all in their “fully costed and fully
funded” fiscal plan. We cost this at $1.16 billion over four
years, adding another $561 per household to their fiscal
gap.

Labour have also added a rent-to-buy scheme for
social housing tenants ($22.9 million), a higher First Home
Loan income cap ($5 million), and marae resilience funding
($30 million), all of which were uncosted.

Despite
being watered down in their fiscal plan, Labour’s pledge to
raise spending to around 33 percent has returned in their
manifesto. On Treasury’s forecasts that would allow up to
$55.4 billion of new spending over four years, or $26,736
per household. Labour’s announced promises account for
$35.45 billion of that, leaving room for a further $19.9
billion ($9,627 per household) of spending it has not yet
announced.

The Greens and Opportunity finish the
campaign as the biggest spenders by a wide margin, at
$272.31 billion ($131,425 per household) and $229.62 billion
($110,821 per household) respectively. Neither has changed
this week. The Greens’ own fiscal plan leaves $243.56
billion of their promises unfunded, or $117,550 per
household. Opportunity has still not released a fiscal
plan.

NZ First is next at $93.93 billion ($45,335 per
household), up from $93.32 billion after adding $617 million
for its ten-point rail policy. National is unchanged at
$5.11 billion ($2,467 per household). ACT remains the only
party proposing net savings, now $17.84 billion ($8,609 per
household).

In the final transparency rankings, Labour
drops half a star to 1.5, having started the campaign on 4.
National and ACT finish on 4 stars, Opportunity on 2.5, NZ
First on 1, and the Greens and Te Pāti Māori on half a
star each.
 

Taxpayers’
Union Head of Policy James Ross said:

“Nine weeks of
the Bribe-O-Meter have exposed hundreds of billions in
unfunded promises and missing costings. The Greens are far
and away this election’s biggest spenders at
$131,425-per-household, closely followed by Opportunity on
$110,821-per-household.”

“Once again, Labour’s
claim to be ‘fully costed and fully funded’ doesn’t
survive scrutiny. Its manifesto promises benefit hikes which
we cost at $1.16 billion over four years, yet its fiscal
plan makes no mention of them. Hipkins is trying to have his
cake and eat it too: claiming credit for the promise while
leaving the bill out of his books.”

“Only one party
has made it through election season without chucking money
at voters, with ACT promising taxpayers $8,609-per-household
of much-needed relief.”

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.

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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