Editorial: We'd love to help out, but we're a bit short right now

It is standard practice for politicians to tailor their public utterances to the sympathies of the people in front of whom they make them. So it's no surprise that Prime Minister John Key chose a meeting of Philanthropy New Zealand to talk about his aspiration that we will develop an "American-style culture of giving".

Presumably Key had his tongue at least gently inserted in his cheek when he raised the hope that if people "can't bring themselves" to spend the extra money they'll be earning when the next round of tax cuts takes effect at the beginning of next month, they could consider donating the money to charity.

Yet the choice of words could also be seen as telling. Typically, we say that people "can't bring themselves" to do something distasteful. With the economy tanking and the redundancy toll growing by the day, top-income earners with a conscience are probably not relishing the prospect of an extra $24 a week from April 1.

Tax cuts were a major plank in National's election policy platform but developments since the November poll must have given Key and his Finance Minister Bill English some anxious moments. The cuts now look simultaneously like a luxury the country can't afford and a lifeline that hard-pressed middle New Zealand can't do without. The Government tried to put a brave face on it by spinning the cuts as a fiscal stimulus, hinting that we all had a patriotic

duty to run out and spend the extra money to stimulate economic activity. It was a good try, but it just made the PM look out of touch: if he didn't know that the vast majority of households already have the money earmarked - for luxuries like new tyres, clothes for the kids or repairing the lawnmower - somebody should have told him.

Making matters worse, the Government has started taking away with the left hand what it gave with the right. ACC Minister Nick Smith's lamentations about the dire state of the corporation's finances doubtless have elements of a political agenda about them, but they nevertheless portend significant increases in motor vehicle registration costs that will take the gloss off any new-found wealth households may feel burdened with.

It is understandable that Key, in his speech to Philanthropy New Zealand would want to depict the tax cuts as an opportunity for the better-off to act on their better instincts. The less money he has in Government coffers, the lower must be Government spending. But he still has some gall to make the plea. He knew when the Nats designed their tax-cut programme that it was criticised for unduly favouring the well-off and effectively increasing the tax burden

on those at the bottom of the income ladder. For him now to turn to those who did not need, deserve or ask for a tax cut and suggest that they give it away looks suspiciously like an attempt to have someone else cover up his blunder. It is not up to the beneficiaries of ill-conceived policies to mitigate their effects on the socially vulnerable; it is the responsibility of Government to target economic and fiscal policy correctly in the first place.

In any event, so far as the people he was addressing were concerned, the comment seemed rather superfluous: Philanthropy New Zealand describes itself as "the peak body" of private philanthropists and philanthropic organisations dedicated to "building social capital in our communities". Our country has a proud tradition of such philanthropy in good times and bad.

Whether we can cultivate here an "American-style culture of giving" is quite another matter. That culture is part of an aggressive and deeply competitive meritocracy rather at odds with more collectivist New Zealand culture.

This recession will impose huge burdens on individuals and communities. It will also impose, on us all, the responsibility to look after each other to the best of our abilities. That is already a long and noble Kiwi tradition. We scarcely need the Prime Minister to remind us of it.