Green’s Utopia: The fastest way to achieving equality is to make everybody poorer
17 JULY 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Green Party’s attempt to increase the welfare state is not only an unnecessary burden on taxpayers but also
founded on a misunderstanding of the economic realities facing New Zealand.
Mac Mckenna, an economist at the Taxpayers’ Union, says, “The reality is that these new Green Party policies are based on misconstrued beliefs about the New Zealand
economy. Firstly, that inequality has been increasing in New Zealand. This is quite simply not true. Two recent reports
by the New Zealand Initiative and NZIER, respectively, demonstrate that inequality is unchanged in over two decades.”
“Secondly, their policy to increase the minimum wage by $2 an hour, and eventually indexing it to 66% of the average
wage, comes in spite of New Zealand already having the highest minimum to average wage ratio in the OECD. As it
currently stands, the minimum to average wage ratio in New Zealand is approximately 0.52. This is significantly higher
than other comparable countries such as Australia (0.44), the UK (0.41), Canada (0.40), and the US (0.25).”
“The irony is that indexing the minimum wage to the average wage may become self-fulfilling under a Green Government.
Their combination of policies deters growth, innovation and productivity, as well as pours away taxpayer money. It is
therefore quite possible that the average wage will fall – achieving their 66% average wage policy without even having
to increase the minimum.”
“The Greens do not seem to grasp the concept that New Zealand can only get wealthier and increase living standards if we
become more productive, innovative, and increase output. The Greens seem to think that disincentivizing the productive
and rewarding the unproductive will make us better off.”
“The Greens are the only party to date who has proposed a tax increase, in the form of a new 40% top tax rate. Not only
is this envy politics, but it is quite alarming that when the Governments books project enormous surpluses into the
foreseeable future, the Greens still don’t think New Zealand taxpayers are parting with enough of their money.”
ENDS