“Today’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that the rest of the world is getting on top of inflation, while the New Zealand Government is still spending up large and fuelling the cost of living crisis,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“There is no doubt this is a New Zealand problem. Non-tradeable inflation has increased from 6.6 per cent in December 2022 to 6.8 per cent in March 2023. Tradeable inflation has plummeted from 8.4 per cent to 6.4 per cent.

“For a long time Labour has said inflation isn’t its fault, blaming overseas factors. Now that inflation of tradeables, things that can be bought and sold overseas, is easing, the attention turns to non-tradeable inflation, which is going up.

“This proves what Treasury said earlier this week, and what ACT has been saying for years now. This cost of living crisis is a wasteful Government spending crisis.

“Today’s CPI marks almost two years of inflation above the Reserve Bank’s target range, it is the fifth time in a row it has been more double the maximum of the target range.

“Too many Kiwi families are struggling just to keep their heads above water. They can see what the problems are, but the Government is so disconnected from the realities of working New Zealanders it feels hopeless.

“ACT will Ease the Squeeze and take the pain out of household budgets:

• We need to end wasteful government spending, for good. ACT will cut the waste in Wellington by $16.3 billion over two years, easing inflation and interest rates
• You work hard for your income, we’ll work just as hard to protect it. ACT will give back $9.3 billion in tax cuts over two years to the people who earned that money. For example, a nurse with one child earning $70,000 would receive around $2,300 in tax relief under ACT’s plan
• The growth needed to lift incomes is strangled by too much regulation and red tape. ACT will get rid of it, whether it’s RMA regulations making it too hard to use land, productivity-sapping workplace relations laws making it impossible to employ staff, or banking laws like the CCCFA that make it too hard to get finance.

“The challenges New Zealand faces can be addressed. But in order to do that there needs to be a strong economy built around creating conditions for prosperity, giving people the opportunity to get ahead.

“Labour thinks the Government is better at spending your money than you are. That’s wrong.

“ACT has released an Alternative Budget each year showing how the Government could cut billions of dollars in wasteful spending without touching frontline services. Hopefully this year Grant Robertson will listen.”

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