National’s tax plan is “irresponsible and unaffordable”, Chris Hipkins says.
The Labour leader told media in Porirua this afternoon the numbers National is using to promise widespread tax cuts if they win next month’s election “simply don’t add up” and will mean cuts in other areas, such as education and health.
“National have a multibillion-dollar hole in their tax plan.”
Under the $14.6 billion plan, almost half is to come from four new taxes, including taxing foreign buyers 15 per cent on the purchase of homes over $2 million.
Some economists have questioned assumptions behind the plan. National has repeatedly refused to release the details of their modelling and the full review of their tax promises, conducted by economics consultancy Castalia.
The assumptions made in regard to the foreign buyers’ tax had “more holes than a block of Swiss cheese”, Hipkins said.
He also took aim at National’s plans to “wind back almost every climate change policy we’ve had”.
“They’ve not only got a big fiscal hole but a carbon hole as well.”
It’s been a tough week for Labour, with polling in the 20s, but only one poll mattered - the one on election day, he said.
“There’s still four weeks to go and we’ve got a lot to get out there and campaign for.”
Earlier, National leader Christopher Luxon unveiled a new technology and visa policy focusing on allowing employees at tech companies to get the most from their share options and getting international entrepreneurs into the country.
The party will also create a minister of technology.
Science Innovation and Technology spokeswoman Judith Collins said it was “common for tech start-ups to attract employees with an offer of equity in the company if it succeeds”.
“However, the Startup Advisors Council has identified existing rules – where share options are treated as income when they are exercised and converted into shares, rather than when the shares are sold – as a major concern, so a National Government will look into that.”
A change would mean the tax treatment of share options.
Immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford also announced a suite of visa changes, including introducing three different types of visas:
- International Graduates Visa – a three-year open work visa for highly educated people who have graduated with a Bachelor’s degree or higher within the past five years from one of the top 100 universities in the world. This visa will initially be capped at 500 successful applicants in the first year.
- Global Growth Tech Visa – a residence visa for people with highly specialised skills who have worked at a top global tech company earning at least NZ$400,000pa. This visa will initially be capped at 250 successful applicants in the first year.
- Digital Nomad Visa – a 12-month visa to attract skilled, highly mobile people to come to New Zealand while working remotely for an overseas-based company, with the option to apply for a work or residence visa later if they choose to stay. This visa will initially be capped at 250 successful applicants in the first year.
National has faced questions about its tax plan, particularly the modelling that underpins its foreign buyers tax. These attacks entered a new league on Thursday when three economists published modelling showing a $2.1b revenue shortfall in the tax.
National claimed it would raise $2.9b from the tax.
Finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis promised to resign if she could not deliver tax reduction next term.
Speaking to TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning, Willis said she would resign if a National Government couldn’t deliver on the tax cuts promised.
“I would resign because we are making a commitment to the New Zealand people and we intend to keep it,” she said when pushed about whether the foreign buyers’ tax would work.
Labour has been campaigning in Wellington today, Hipkins hitting the trail in Lower Hutt.
He was at the Youth Employment Symposium in Lower Hutt where he spoke to sector representatives about the importance of expanding programmes and pathways for youth who didn’t go to university to get them into work that they could prosper in.
He also referenced the need for more sustainable funding for organisations assisting youth into employment and also said there was “more work to be done” on making it easier for young people to get their driver’s licence. Hipkins then travelled to Porirua to the Whānau Manaaki Kindergarten Association, which packed food boxes for hundreds of families across Wellington and the Central Plateau.
After packing a couple of boxes, Hipkins spoke with association members and was given 6-month-old Alyssa Kanavatoa to hold.
National has been on the attack over spending on budget breakfasts by the Ministry of Pacific Peoples.
National said Government responses to written parliamentary questions showed the ministry spent nearly $53,000 on the breakfast events.
It follows Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes criticising the ministry last month for spending more than $40,000 on a farewell for its departing chief executive last October.
National’s public service spokesman Simeon Brown attacked Labour’s Ginny Andersen for defending the spending.
“Kiwis getting ready for work this morning would’ve choked on their cornflakes hearing Andersen say that this lavish spending was ‘pretty typical’,” Brown said
”If it’s ‘pretty typical’ for ministries to spend $52,000 on breakfasts promoting Labour Party political groups all over the country, Chris Hipkins must explain today how much has been spent since 2017 on doing this.”
