John Key - National Party Finance Spokesman
2 May 2005

Labour takes an extra $50 billion in tax

National’s Finance spokesman, John Key, says that since Labour was elected to office in 1999 there has been a cumulative increase in all taxes of more than $50 billion.

The information was contained in an answer from Finance Minister Michael Cullen to a written Parliamentary Question.

The $50,614,000,000 increase in the tax take includes a doubling of the company tax take, from $3.8 billion in 1999 to $7.4 billion in 2005, and a 54% increase in the personal tax take.

“The public will want to know what they got for the $50 billion. Or has it been wasted on the spending binge that Labour has been on – a huge increase in the cost of the bureaucracy, as well as things like hip-hop tours, twilight golf, bogus polytech courses, and a huge amount of other waste?

“The answer will be, of course, that we have not seen $50 billion worth of extra benefits from this government.

“No wonder a poll last week showed a rapidly increasing level of frustration by New Zealand consumers and businesses, and a growing belief that they are being over-taxed and unfairly taxed,” Mr Key says.

ENDS

© Scoop Media