Today’s tax cuts will come at the expense of our tomorrow.

“The Government’s trickle-down tax cuts come at unfathomable cost to people and planet,” says Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.

“To pay for it, they’ve watered down child poverty targets, frozen hiring front-line staff in a health system already on its knees and slashed climate action to protect our tomorrow.

“Today, carbon dioxide levels off the coast of the capital hit record highs - while the Government cuts NIWA scientists. The ocean around us is reaching record levels of heating that is killing fish and driving them out of our waters - while the Government knowingly increases emissions.

“Tax cuts today, at what cost? And who really benefits?

“The Prime Minister keeps saying these are for ‘low and middle-income earners,’ but once again, the facts tell a demonstrably different story from the spin. 64 per cent of the benefit goes to the top 40 per cent of households. Just 5.2 per cent will flow to the lowest-income 20 per cent of New Zealanders.

“This Government’s decisions mean more poverty, greater inequality, more climate-changing emissions, deferred maintenance on crumbling infrastructure, and ultimately, higher human, climate and financial cost for all of us in the not-too-distant future.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. With a tax system built on fairness as the Greens have long campaigned for, we can unlock the resources to ensure no one lives in poverty, we fix our public infrastructure and take necessary action for a climate-safe, inclusive, flourishing Aotearoa New Zealand.

“What all of this Government’s decisions continue to show is that we’re not so much dealing with a cost of living crisis, but a cost of greed crisis,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

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