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ACT leader David Seymour said a “radical” green Labor government would jeopardize New Zealand’s economic recovery.
“Grant Robertson has said that Labor will not introduce new taxes, but that will bring little comfort to hard-working New Zealand taxpayers,” he said Thursday.
“New Zealanders will be concerned that if a wealth tax is the price of a second term for Labor, it will capitulate and put our economic recovery at risk.”
But Robertson is confident the economy will recover, despite Stats NZ confirming last week that the country was officially in recession, thanks to the tight lockdown in March and April.
“That’s the quarter we saw in June,” he said. “What we saw in July and the first part of August went down to Level 1, the economy was actually getting huge and we saw New Zealand’s activity index rise 2 percent in July 2020 from what it had been in July 2019. ”
Robertson acknowledged that the government has been propping up the economy with stimuli such as the wage subsidy, but said the payments are “decreasing” as consumer confidence begins to recover.
“I’ve seen some economists even talk about a rebound of around 12 or 13 percent in the next quarter, others say less than that. But the resilience and strength of the New Zealand economy is there.”
The National Party has proposed a 16-month income tax break to help stimulate the economy if elected next month, but Robertson said that’s not the way to go.
“It’s absolutely unaffordable. It’s like your household budget, it’s fine to go on a spending spree if you don’t bother to pay the bills, but eventually you catch up.”
Robertson revealed Sunday that National had miscalculated how much it would save by stopping contributions from the New Zealand Super Fund, resulting in a $ 4 billion fiscal hole in its economic plan.
Newshub revealed that National made the same mistake with its capital allocation, resulting in another $ 88 million shortfall, and Robertson says National has also accounted for twice the value of $ 4 billion in transportation funds.
“It’s actually more than $ 8 billion now,” he said. “Now they say they are going to cut funding for transportation in order to make up the gap of the last $ 4 billion.”
National finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith says Labor is “getting money out the door”, while National suggests a “more sensible way to invest” in rebuilding the country.
National would spend $ 6 billion less than Labor on general operating costs, such as education, health and social services. It would eliminate tertiary education and KiwiBuild without fees, and contributions to the Super Fund would be suspended.
