Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Licence needed for work use Learn More
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

Brash's No. 1 priority: tax cuts for the rich

Brash's No. 1 priority: tax cuts for the rich

National's new leader is trying to bribe his old mates back into the party by offering tax cuts and the chance to loot some more state-owned assets, Green Party Co-leader Rod Donald said today.

Dr Brash's first policy pronouncements since rolling Bill English just two days ago would see a new round of asset sales and a tax-cut plan, to entice wealthy individuals and rich corporate donors back into the thin blue line of the party faithful.

The Brash plan would squander the $5.6 billion budget surplus on tax breaks for companies and high earners, boosting the annual income of someone earning $500,000 a year by an extra $40,000, a tax cut bigger than the average wage. A worker on the average wage would only get an extra $48 a year, while anyone earning less than $38,000 would get nothing at all.

"If Dr Brash is as concerned about jobs, education and health services for low income families as he claims then he should support our policies, such as the Green tax plan to make the first $5000 of income tax free for all New Zealanders and Sue Bradford's Child Benefit Bill," said Rod Donald.

"Instead of pandering to corporate greed, Dr Brash should be looking at ways to make large companies meet their social and environmental obligations. I challenge Dr Brash to name a single corporation that's paying 33 per cent tax right now.

"Come back, Bill, we're missing you already."

ENDS

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

Featured News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.