Labour has announced $10.43 billion in new spending in Week 4 of the Taxpayers' Union's Bribe-O-Meter. That is $5,034 for every household in the country, in the space of seven days.
Labour's plan to build 6,000 additional state houses, and repair schools and hospitals is costed at $4.3 billion. Its student loan policy, announced at its campaign launch, adds a further $583 million, or $282 per household.
But the biggest spend-up this week came with no costings at all. Labour has committed to progressively lifting foreign aid to 0.7 percent of Gross National Income 'as fiscal conditions allow'. Assuming they take the full four year forecast period to incrementally increase the foreign aid budget, we cost this at $5.52 billion, or $2,662 per household. We invite Labour to front up with their own costings in their upcoming fiscal plan.
That takes the cost of the policies Labour has specifically announced to $33.24 billion, or $16,041 per household. The gap between those promises and the $50.47 billion cost of its commitment to lift Core Crown Expenditure to 33 percent of GDP has narrowed to $17 billion. Another two weeks like this one and they will blow through it.
Most other parties have kept their cards close. National's announcements this week are already accounted for in its $1.99 billion total. ACT adds another dollar per household to its total, with noise cameras to catch loud vehicles. We have also added the cost of a lobbying register to both the Greens and Opportunity, at $11.6 million each.
| Party | Spending Promise | Cost Per Household |
|---|---|---|
| National | $1.99 billion | $960 |
| ACT | $710 million | $343 |
| Labour | $50.47 billion* | $24,358* |
| NZ First | $49.40 billion | $23,841 |
| Opportunity | $218.41 billion | $105,412 |
| Green Party | $236.72 billion | $114,245 |
| Te Pāti Māori | Too vague to cost overall | N/A |
Taxpayers’ Union Head of Policy James Ross said:
"This has been a tough week for transparency at Labour HQ. Firstly, they've refused to include the cost of reinstating the pay equity regime in their fiscal plans. Now they've chosen not to put a cost to more than doubling foreign aid."
"Taken together, these policies would cost taxpayers $16.49 billion, or $7,957 per household. The least Kiwis deserve is to know how Labour plan to pay for it."
"Luckily, with their fiscal plan expected out within the next few days, Labour have every opportunity to make it right and front up to Kiwis ahead of next month's election."
Weekly Bribe-O-Meter updates, including our Transparency Score Rankings, are available at www.taxpayers.org.nz/bribe_o_meter.
