Welcome to the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union Bribe-o-meter. As political parties announce their policies in the weeks leading up to the General Election, we'll be crunching the numbers and showing you just how much all the promises cost.
And the results are:
Click the categories above for detailed information on the spending promises in each area of spending.
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Bribe-O-Meter - Party totals:
| Party |
Total cost (saving) of announced promises |
Cost (saving) per New Zealand household |
| National Party |
$1.397 billion |
$823.62 |
| Labour Party |
$5.805 billion |
$3,423.16 |
| Green Party |
$6.542 billion |
$3,857.77 |
| ACT Party |
-$11.660 billion |
-$6,875.60 |
| United Future Party |
$2.124 billion |
$1,252.51 |
| Conservative Party |
$0.400 billion |
$235.88 |
| New Zealand First Party |
Unknown (click here for details) |
Unknown (click here for details) |
Even our expert - who used to lead a team that did policy costing for the IRD - is stumped with New Zealand First. Winston Peters' policy manifesto is simply not detailed enough to base any credible calculations on for costing purposes. We've contacted Mr Peters' staff and made a public request for the necessary informaiton - but the Party has failed to provide it.
FAQ:
How has the Taxpayers' Union obtained the data?
The Taxpayers’ Union has commissioned Dr Michael Dunn of Economic and Fiscal Consulting Ltd to independently calculate the data for the Bribe-o-meter. Michael is politically independent and has extensive experience in the field of economics, including as a Manager within IRD’s Forecasting and Analysis unit for 12 years. Further information about Michael and his background can be found here.
What is the methodology and how is the information displayed?
The Bribe-O-Meter compiles the political promises of each of the main political parties and places them within the major spending portfolios.
It assumes that the government elected on 20 September will last for a full three-year term and oversee Budgets 2015/2016 to 2017/2018. Policies announced that do not come into effect during the next Parliament are not included in the figures.
Our analysis includes spending pledges announced between 2011 and now. Given that the purpose of the Bribe-o-meter is to track spending pledges announced by politicians, it does not model the effect of tax cuts or tax increases and the effect they have on households.
Tax credits and rebates have been considered as constituting new spending.
Our cost tables do not include the provisions for future budget spending that have been made by each party. For the next three budgets (2015, 2016 and 2017) National propose additional spending of $9.1 billion, and Labour $6.9 billion. In addition, Labour plan to contribute $3.9 billion to the New Zealand Super Fund over the 3 year period.
Will you work with political parties to correct or refine the numbers?
Absolutely! We want to provide the public and media with as much information as possible. If there are errors or a party disagrees with Dr Dunn’s expert assessment of their costings, we hope that the Bribe-o-meter will encourage the parties to provide the public with more information and transparency.
What are the total figures for each party? Is your source data available?
Yes, we are happy to provide our calculations to any interested parties or media organisations that contact us.
The Bribe-O-Meter is based on independent data from Economic and Fiscal Consulting Ltd. It is designed to objectively explain and inform on the cost of policies and is not intended to judge the quality of spending or otherwise influence your vote. This website is not an election advertisement. Nevertheless, for the avoidance of doubt, this website is authorised by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Inc. Level 2, 50 Manners Street, Wellington.
