Media Release: Bill English bets on a modest carrot, big spending, to win an election

‘Vote for National and get a tax cut next year’ is the message from Budget 2017, says Jordan Williams, Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union. “But middle and high-income earners will be burdened with a higher proportion of the costs of government.” 

“The person on the average wage has gone backward tax-wise, since 2010.” 

“In politics, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and Budget 2017 is an enormous spend-up seeking to soothe all the political itches Mr Joyce can find. Even worse, virtually none of the new spending initiatives appear to be funded by reprioritisation of funding. In fact, the word 'reprioritisation' doesn’t even appear in the today’s budget documents.” 

“The changes in income tax thresholds are obviously welcome, but they do not fully compensate for fiscal drag for average wage growth for the typical income earner on $57,000 without children. Nor do they come into effect until 1 April 2018.” 

“We’ve heard this all before from National in election years. Vote for us, and we’ll give you tax relief. Unfortunately, this Government has canceled more promised tax cuts than it has delivered.” 

“This isn’t a taxpayer’s budget. It’s a naked election year spend up.”