Chris Hipkins defends email asking supporters to donate tax cuts to Labour

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has defended his party’s request for supporters to donate their Budget 2024 tax cuts to help the party unseat the Government in the next election.

The Government yesterday revealed a Budget with $14 billion of tax cuts ranging from $4-$40 a fortnight for all workers on more than $14,000. A minimum wage worker would be about $12.50 better off while a working couple whose combined income is $150,000 will be better off by $40 a week.

Labour’s general secretary Rob Salmond sent an email to supporters saying the Government was making “the wrong choices” and was choosing “landlords over funding the cancer drugs”. He said the tax cuts would come “at the cost of services that Kiwis rely on”.

“Will you donate some of you tax cut to Labour?” the email asked.

“That way, the tax cuts really can help create a better future for Aotearoa New Zealand by getting Labour back in Government.”

The email also mentioned these donations would be matched by other fund donors.

Talking to reporters this afternoon, Hipkins said he had spoken to a lot of people who did not want their tax cut right now and wanted to see the money being put to “better use”.

He said, “The Labour Party is doing fundraising because we actually think that this Budget’s got the wrong priorities.”

He said there would be New Zealanders who thought the tax cuts were “mad” and might be willing to support the Labour Party’s campaign to get back into power.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis speaks to business leaders at an ANZ-sponsored event at the InterContinental hotel in Wellington today. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Willis referenced the Labour Party’s email to its supporters during a speech the day after delivering her first Budget. While laughing, she said: “This may seem particularly cheeky and somewhat hypocritical ... but I think it’s utterly consistent with Labour’s view they can spend your money better than you can.”

Hipkins made the comments while visiting a cold and mouldy flat in Wellington where eight young people lived. He said Budget 2024, unveiled yesterday, was “bad news” for renters and that the Government was making the wrong tax relief choices.

“What we are seeing in the Budget is that there really is nothing but bad news. Rents are projected to rise quite steeply,” he said.

“Their [the Government’s] claim that giving a $2.9 billion tax break to landlords is going to result in rents going down is clearly false. The Budget is now projecting that rents are going to increase. They’ve basically just taken $2.9 and given it to landlords.”