‘SLASH AND BURN’

NATIONAL’S ‘SLASH AND BURN’ PLAN WILL HIT MIDDLE AND LOW INCOME KIWIS
The news that the Government is planning to axe even more jobs in the public service is further evidence that National’s only plan for this economy is to slash and burn.
We’ve heard Bill English and John Key blaming the Canterbury earthquake for the fact our economy is in trouble. That’s not true. The economy was going backwards under National long before the quake hit on February 22.
The Government is just using the disaster as an excuse to take the hatchet to programmes like Working for Families, Kiwisaver and interest-free student loans which they didn’t really support but promised before the election not to cut. That’s the absolute wrong approach to take. Why would you hammer middle and low income families in tough economic times, when they’re already struggling to pay the bills?
John Key claims he’ll only trim money from those at the top end who are receiving Working for Families. But to make any real savings, he would need to cut payments to couples where the combined household income is probably around $80,000 and that’s the equivalent of two people earning less than the average wage each, while supporting children. Why is he hammering middle New Zealand while he continues to hold on to tax cuts of $1000 a week to people on his income band?
If savings really have to be made, surely those on the top incomes who got huge windfall gains from October tax cuts could give some of that back. Clearly the economy couldn’t afford National’s tax cuts for the wealthy. If you want to get the economy going, helping middle and low income people struggling to make ends meet, not further cutting their incomes, would be a good place to start. As BERL economist Ganesh Nana says slash and burn will just push New Zealand further into recession.