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New Zealanders' Standard of Living in Freefall
Responding to today’s release of the Q3 2023 GDP figures, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
“New Zealanders have years of economic mismanagement by their government to thank for them getting poorer and poorer by the day. In just the 3 months to September alone, GDP per capita fell by an eye-watering 0.9%. With GDP per capita plummeting for the fourth quarter in a row, our standard of living is in freefall.
“In a country which already has one of the lowest productivity levels in the developed world, an anti-growth government has been doing everything it can to stifle innovation and growth; this strategy is now bearing its sour fruit as New Zealand is deep in the belly of a crippling per capita recession.
“There’s no more time to waste, and the simple fact of the matter is that Kiwis cannot afford three more years of the same ruinous economic negligence. National need to quit just paying lip service to the idea that an economy should grow, and to do so they must commit to significantly shrinking the cost of government and slashing the red tape which is holding our country back.”
Government must Remove Price Controls from Carbon Credits to Ease Cost of Living
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to remove all price controls from carbon credits following today’s auction failing to clear the minimum reserve price for the fourth quarter in a row.
Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:
“The government already sets the quantity of credits available, so they should let the market decide the price. Setting arbitrary minimum and maximum prices makes the market less efficient and drives up prices for businesses and consumers.
“Today’s failed auction will put pressure on the carbon price, further adding strain to the cost of living. Removing price controls would help to ensure the lowest-cost pathway to emissions reduction and ensure maximum freedom for people’s decision-making over what products to consume, within the sinking cap on net emissions.
“If we want to be world leaders in climate change we must ensure that the Emissions Trading Scheme is simple and efficient so that other countries are able to use the New Zealand model as a blueprint for emissions reduction in their own country. Anything else is simply a virtue signal that punishes families for absolutely no environmental gain.”