National's budget "blueprint for social breakdown"

National's budget announced today is pushing New Zealand further down the road of inequality and social breakdown, says the Alliance Party.

Alliance Party spokesperson Victor Billot says the budget achieved two key goals for National: redistributing wealth from the needy to the greedy, and starving social spending.

"For most people, the so-called tax cut will have vanished by the time they get to the end of the first aisle in the supermarket."

He says that what is most disturbing is the budget gives someone like John Key hundreds of dollars a week extra but leaves the most vulnerable families in New Zealand with nothing.

"The priorities of this National Government are to shovel cash at people like the Prime Minister who will be laughing all the way to his mid winter break in his Hawaii condo."

"Yet the thousands of struggling families working shift work, long hours, for low pay, get a few coins."

He says the budget is literally taking food out of the mouths of children from poor families to pay for flash restaurant dinners for CEOs.

"The increase in GST is essentially immoral at a time of mass unemployment, and food and housing costs going through the roof."

Mr Billot called on the Maori Party to step away from their coalition with National which was permitting this attack.

"If they don't make a stand now, they will have allowed the most blatant attack on low income communities both Maori and Pakeha to proceed."

The Alliance has a tax plan that is aimed at creating a balanced and equal society that had a long term future.

Income tax would be heavily reduced on lower incomes, and raised on high incomes, a progressive tax system that would relieve the worst pressures and poverty in New Zealand.

The Alliance would phase out GST and replace it with a Financial Transactions Tax, an increasingly popular alternative.

The Alliance would also introduce a capital gains tax, to tax speculation rather than productive work.

The Alliance Party has joined with Socialist Worker to launch a petition this Saturday 22 May campaigning to remove GST off food and introduce a Financial Transactions Tax.

ENDS

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