15 April 2002
Low And Middle Income Earners Miss Out In Nats’ Strategy
“It is disappointing that Bill English has adopted the tired old National Party strategy of the 1990s by promising tax
cuts for the rich,” Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.
“It is no surprise that the National Party is promising tax cuts for employers and those on the highest incomes,” he
said.
“We have seen this all before. Unfortunately it is those on low and middle incomes who will miss out.
“This is made even worse by the National Party’s announcement that they will amend the Employment Relations Act and
effectively privatise accident compensation.”
Ross Wilson said the whole tenor of the economic statement was that the only issue is compliance costs for business.
“In fact, what is important for firms today is to focus on adding value rather than constantly calling for lower taxes
and exaggerating compliance cost issues,” he said.
“New Zealanders are still suffering from the tax cuts of the last decade which favoured those on high incomes, resulted
in benefit cuts for those on low incomes, and led directly to the huge pressures on health and education spending.”
Ross Wilson said it was not reassuring that tax cuts would be funded through removing the prefunding of superannuation.
“It is vital that some provision is made to ensure that at least the current level of entitlement that superannuitants
get can be preserved for current workers when they retire,” he said.
“The CTU supports superannuation prefunding provided it is phased in without a damaging impact on other important areas
of expenditure.”
ENDS