Labour presides over slide to mediocrity

“More evidence has been released today that shows Labour is presiding over a slide to mediocrity,” says National Party Finance spokesman John Key.

He is responding to figures that show New Zealand has slipped four places to 18th in the annual global competitiveness scoreboard published by the Swiss-based IMD World Competitiveness Centre this week.

The United States topped the 2004 table, on which Singapore was second, Canada third and Australia fourth. Criteria are based on economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

“Labour has done nothing for the past six years but erect barriers to growth. While those barriers don’t have a dramatic impact on the upside of the cycle, they will really start to bite on the downside.

“New Zealand risks falling even further behind Australia tonight, with Australian Treasurer Peter Costello preparing for across the board tax cuts.

“Michael Cullen and Labour have steadfastly refused to address New Zealand tax rates. They’ve been collecting more and more off Kiwi workers, while imposing new costs on business and consumers through things like the Carbon Tax.

“Only National can be trusted to deliver lower taxes for working New Zealanders,” says Mr Key.

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