Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Licence needed for work use Learn More

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

MPs Must Not Take Pay Hike While Kiwis Go Backwards

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on MPs to put their money where their mouths are and implement a pay freeze rather than accept a taxpayer-funded pay hike at a time when many families are going backwards.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Every year, politicians reach deeper and deeper into New Zealanders’ pockets as inflation pushes people into higher tax brackets. This year, the money pulled out will be getting stuffed straight into the pockets of politicians.

“With the economy in recession, New Zealanders are quite literally getting poorer as there is less and less pie to be shared among more and more people. It is completely unjustified to accept a pay rise at a time when the economy is doing so poorly, government spending is out of control, and inflation is persistently high.

“Jacinda Ardern, to her credit, showed leadership when introducing a pay freeze for MPs in 2018 and actually cut MP pay during the pandemic. This Government must lead from the front when it comes to reducing spending, and a good first step would be to follow Ardern’s example and tighten their own personal belts.

“It’ll be a lot harder to get the public service on board with spending reductions if they see MPs continuing to ride the gravy train. When David Seymour points out that thousands-upon-thousands of bureaucrats are earning more than MPs, the answer should be to cut the number of overpaid execs rather than hiking MPs’ salaries.

“If politicians want more money in their own pockets, they should cut wasteful spending to deliver more tax relief that benefits all workers, including MPs.”

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

Featured News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.