It is extremely damaging to Labour because what Parker’s just told voters in my opinion is that even though he could’ve sat tight for another 11 weeks to the election, his own party’s tax plans have made him either so angry or so disappointed that he can’t.
To know that even a senior Labour MP doesn’t like Labour’s plan is more damaging than anything the opposition parties could say.
It is also a direct attack on Chris Hipkins, because this is a protest at Labour’s tax policy and Hipkins is the one calling the shots on that. He’s almost boasted about the fact that he alone killed the wealth tax plans Parker and Finance Minister Grant Robertson were concocting.
In a way, Parker deserves respect for making this stand on principle. Although I believe he’s wrong, he really does believe a wealth tax will make New Zealand a fairer place. He’s been talking about Thomas Piketty’s book on the subject for years.
It was asking too much of him to not only give up on that but then instead sell to the public a complete turd of a tax policy instead.
Because that is what the plan to scrap GST off fresh fruit and veges is. If National’s leak is solid and this really is Labour’s tax policy, then they deserve Parker’s defection.
The policy is rubbish.
It’s unnecessarily complicated. If GST has to be scrapped off some food, then it should be scrapped off all food for simplicity.
It’s not a new idea. We’ve already rejected it once. Labour ran it out in 2011 under Phil Goff. The passing of 12 years has not made it a better idea. Labour would pay to remember what happened in that election. Goff ended up spending too much time trying to explain how it would work. Would he scrap GST off sandwiches given they contain GST-free fresh lettuce and tomatoes? What about frozen beans? The whatabouts are never-ending.
It won’t necessarily make fruit and veges cheaper. The supermarkets might just hold the price and pocket the GST. Even Robertson admitted in May that supermarkets would likely benefit more than consumers.
And most importantly it’ll be a disappointment to voters. We’ve gone from the prospect of Labour taking tax off our first $10,000 in earnings to taking tax only off our bananas and potatoes.
Under the tax-free threshold policy that Hipkins killed, we would all have got $1050 a year back in tax. Under the GST policy he’s planning, we’d have to spend a whopping $7000 a year on fresh fruit and veges before we got the same tax relief.
It’s hard to know who to blame for the unhappiness in Labour. Is it Jacinda Ardern for running such a loose ship that ministers had the freedom to dream up and implement virtually any crazy policy they wanted to? Or is it Hipkins for trying too hard to win the election by putting not only crazy ideas on the policy bonfire, but also Labour’s heart and soul?
Or is it the ministers and MPs themselves? Those, like Allan, who don’t know how to do what it takes to win? Or those like Parker who don’t want to do what it takes to win?
Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive, Newstalk ZB, 4pm-7pm, weekdays.
