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“We are up almost 500 percent in volume. We distribute food for a year in about 12 weeks,” he told Shaw Murray Edridge of the Wellington City Mission.
The Green Party co-leader said it is “clear from the pressure they have been under to deliver food parcels and so forth that there is a real need here.”
To stop that need, the Greens want everyone to have a guaranteed minimum income of $ 325 a week paid for with two new income taxes and a wealth tax.
“Reforming the tax system and ensuring that people have their basic living costs covered is one of the top priorities we are taking in this election campaign,” Shaw told Newshub.
Judith Collins, leader of the National Party, says that this is the Trojan horse that will destroy Labor’s policy of “no more new taxes” if politics is chosen.
“The Labor Party, having published its tax plan, has not ruled out making deals with the Greens on more asset taxes or anything else,” Collins said Thursday.
Except that Labor finance spokesman Grant Robertson did when asked by Newshub if he could outright rule out adopting the Greens’ tax plan.
“Yes. This is the Labor tax plan that we announced yesterday and yesterday I said very clearly what we will implement in government,” Robertson said.
His message is that you don’t even bother bringing it to the negotiating table. The only tax Robertson will add is Labor’s highest tax rate of 39 percent on income over $ 180,000.
“I cannot be clearer than I have been,” he said.
But Shaw seems optimistic.
“The little matter of an election is missing,” he said.
And if voters return the Greens to Parliament, Shaw says they won’t accept unfair treatment.
Newshub asked Shaw if he would walk away from the negotiations if the Greens don’t get his tax plan and if he will sit on the cross benches outside of government.
“It is always a possibility,” he said.
Robertson said he heard Shaw say yesterday that it was a top priority and not an end result.
He is not sure if he will actually do any negotiations, telling Newshub: “We will let the negotiations take place if they do.”
Although it seems he did not follow his hard line with the boss.
When Labor leader Jacinda Ardern was asked if she would lean towards the Greens, she said: “After the elections, we take care of what the voters give us.”
That is what you call room for maneuver.
