Don Brash MP National Party Leader

10 December 2004

Getting Ahead With Lower Taxes

"New Zealand needs tax changes that provide greater incentives for investment, enterprise, entrepreneurship and hard work. And those changes will involve both personal tax and company tax," National Party Leader Don Brash told a lunchtime meeting today.

"The updated government accounts make it clear that there is room for the government which is elected next year to deliver a tax cut for every working New Zealander in its first Budget.

"Clearly, the scale and initial focus of such cuts will depend on the state of the economy at the time. We have no intention of triggering a lift in interest rates with too rapid a cut in taxes.

"A significant reduction in the tax burden will take many years and more than one term of government. But if we slowly but consistently work to reduce taxes over time, large benefits will emerge for all New Zealanders.

"Another important goal of our tax reforms will be to reinforce social stability by lessening the burden on the hundreds of thousands of middle-income families who, under the policies of the current Government, are taxed as if they were the new rich.

"That could mean targeted reductions in tax on families, leaving significantly more of their own cash in their pockets - as distinct from the middle-income welfare policies announced by Michael Cullen in this year's Budget, which will churn tax from one pocket to the other, minus a bit to pay for the bureaucracy.

"It could also mean tax relief for those who reduce the burden on the state by meeting the costs of their own medical care, or the costs of their children's education. That could be achieved through either tax deductions or rebates on such expenses.

"This Labour Government has had more than five years to provide some tax relief but has done nothing.

"Over a similar period, a National Government could radically transform the incentives New Zealanders face, and the opportunities they have to get ahead in life," Dr Brash said.

ENDS

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