Astounding 40 percent tax claim arrogant and wrong
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Prime Minister John Key’s arrogance in falsely claiming that 40 percent of New Zealanders don’t pay tax is astounding, says Labour Revenue spokesperson Stuart Nash.
Stuart Nash said the motives for Mr Key’s attack on hard-working Kiwis were clearly highly political.
“Why would he talk such nonsense otherwise? He is inferring that 40 percent of hard-working and struggling Kiwis are ripping the system off, when the reality is that, according to the Tax Working Group, 50 percent of New Zealand’s richest people are not paying the top tax rate.
“The vast majority of New Zealanders pay their fair share of tax on their income, and those who don’t tend to be those at the very top,” Stuart Nash said.
“Mr Key needs to have the guts to be honest about his motives. Clearly he still wants to deliver even more tax cuts to the top few, and that’s why he is, in effect, attacking the 78 percent of Kiwis earning the average wage or below it.
“These are the Kiwis who have put up with his rhetoric about the job summit talkfest and the cycleway, while he has done nothing to help them in their struggle to make ends meet.
“Now that an economic recovery is starting to take hold, National must ensure that all New Zealanders, not just a privileged few, share in the benefits of changes to the tax system, but Mr Key is trying to soften up the genuine expectations of lowest-paid Kiwis that their sacrifices will not have been in vain,” Stuart Nash said.
“Mr Key’s comments about the 40 percent are actually an attack on Working for Families. The fact is that Working for Families has done a great job of lifting many Kiwi families out of poverty.
“OECD statistics actually show that New Zealand's households receive just 13 percent of their income from the government in the form of public benefits, whereas the OECD average is 22 percent.”
Stuart Nash said he was angered by Mr Key’s unfair and ill-founded attack on “Kiwis who are least able to fight back.
“He should be focusing his attention on the 50 percent identified by the TWG. Clearly he doesn’t find that target quite so appealing or palatable.”
