OPINION
I want to congratulate Christopher Luxon on winning Halloween this year. His cosplay as a McDonald’s low-income earner tops the charts for the most frightening thing to be under a National Party Government. I imagine being a low-income earner under a National Government that cuts taxes for the rich in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis will be hellish. Luxon’s tax policies are so skewed to enrich the wealthiest that they don’t even leave the scraps for the poor.
The National Party has long masqueraded as the advocate for the “squeezed middle” of New Zealand but, according to New Zealand Council of Trade Unions’ (NZCTU) Economist Craig Renney, the National Party’s tax package gives 10 times as much money to the wealthiest New Zealanders as it does to middle- and low-income earners. The richest 5 per cent will receive nearly $6 billion, more than half the value of the National Party’s tax cuts over three years, while the lowest half of income earners will receive merely 6% of the income tax cuts.
A McDonald’s low-income earner will receive a dollar for every high-income earner who receives $10 in the National Party’s tax package. If he does not increase his pay if he becomes Prime Minister, Luxon would receive about $54,000 over three years in tax cuts. That excludes the tax cuts he would receive from other sources. On the other hand, McDonald’s workers who on average earn a few cents more than the minimum wage, will receive approximately $350 in the same time.
National’s finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis rejects the figures. NZCTU has calculated the tax cuts as though the National Party will implement their entire tax policy in the first year of Government. National says they will stagger the implementation of their tax policies. However, they are unclear what they will implement first. Luxon says he will axe property taxes immediately. Again, the wealthy landlords are set to benefit before the poor.