Dennis Maga, FIRST Union General Secretary, says that personal tax cuts taking effect today are largely illusory and will not mitigate a cost of living crisis that is being deepened and worsened by the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s systematic destruction of the public service.

Mr Maga said today’s tax cuts were being paid for in job losses, service reductions, and cancelling out policies like Fair Pay Agreements that would have enriched many more in the long run.

"This is a Government of smoke and mirrors that lies as a matter of principle because the reality of their far-right political project would never be accepted by the people of New Zealand," said Mr Maga.

"It’s a Government of spin and manipulation, where frontline healthcare workers are called "back office staff", landlords are treated as a downtrodden underclass, and tax cuts are sold to us as part of some national success story rather than the result of brutal cuts to our public services."

Mr Maga said an individual earning a full-time living wage might hope to take home an extra $10-25 per week following these tax cuts, but any personal benefit was already overwritten by reductions to services that people would end up relying on at some point in their lives. An estimated 6,272 jobs have already been cut from the public service, with thousands more likely upcoming.

"You can’t mitigate a cost of living crisis for working people without controls on rent, help getting into housing, action on high supermarket prices and cheaper public transport - these tax cuts are already spoken for several times over in many households," said Mr Maga.

"We would all be better off financially if we enjoyed stronger bargaining power in our workplaces and had a Government that was actually focused on reducing living costs, but instead we get twenty bucks a week if we’re lucky and some meaningless neoliberal rhetoric about hard work."

Mr Maga said emergency services were examples of some of the biggest losers in the Government’s tax cut trade-off. St John ambulance funding was frozen in Budget 2024/25 and ambulance officers were being told no money was available for pay increases this year, Mr Maga argued.

"A twenty dollar tax cut will mean nothing to you if you die while waiting for an ambulance or in a hospital corridor," said Mr Maga.

Mr Maga said the Government’s true priorities were blindingly obvious. In the last two days alone, Minister Brook Van Velden has announced plans to auction off licences for online casinos, while Minister Shane Reti is throwing officials under the bus for his Government’s mismanagement of the health service. Air New Zealand, which is 51% owned by New Zealanders, has scrapped its 2030 carbon emissions targets, following obvious climate indifference at the top of Government. Mr Maga said that this was becoming a typical kind of week in political news.

"Let me be absolutely clear - this Government does not have empathy about working people or the future challenges we face as a society," said Mr Maga.

"Their election was always about rewarding the billionaires that funded their campaign, and a chance for them to settle some ideological scores with the previous Labour Government."

"I don’t think many people will be getting their next paycheck and thanking Christopher Luxon for his Government’s generosity - they will be feeling a deep anxiety about their futures and the public services that are supposed to be there to help and protect us when times get tough."

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