National look after their cronies with tax boost for rich

The Alliance says that National's proposed tax changes will take money out of the pockets of low to middle income New Zealanders in order to give people like John Key a handout of hundreds of dollars a week in tax cuts.

Alliance Economic Development Spokesperson Quentin Findlay says that John Key’s pre-budget spin is that the wealthiest people in New Zealand need a helping hand more than the majority of citizens.

Mr Findlay was commenting on media reports that showed that the highest income earners are set to get an extra $300 in the hand weekly while people on middle incomes will be lucky if they received an extra $6.

“John Key's arrogant assumption that only the very wealthy are worthy of recognition indicates a Government that represents the vested interests of a small elite."

He says the National Government appears to believe that by rewarding the wealthy with more money that their new wealth will magically ‘trickle down’ to everyone else – a discredited theory used to justify the "wealth grab" by the mega rich.

“Lower and middle income earners have faced substantial tax hikes since 1984 and they will be the ones paying substantially more after this budget for ordinary goods and services due to the increase in GST.”

Mr Findlay noted that later in the year people will then face new hikes in power and other services irrespective of the GST hike due to the emissions trading scheme.

“All of these increases are on top of more proposals for job cuts in the public and private sector and the pitiful wage and salary increases for the vast bulk of people which don’t keep up with the rate of inflation.”

Mr Findlay said that it was time for some fairness in the tax system and that meant reducing and eliminating indirect taxes like GST and implementing a more progressive tax system including a financial transactions tax and a capital gains tax.

“The current tax system and the impending tax reforms have been designed by wealthy people for wealthy people. The system needs to be operated for the majority not a privileged minority.”

ENDS

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