National leader Christopher Luxon says they knew just 3000 households - 0.18 per cent of the country - would get the full $250 a fortnight headline figure in their tax relief package, but claimed it wasn’t misleading to advertise it as going to the “average-income family”.
The crucial part was that the party had included the words “up to $250” in their tax package document, Luxon said.
The revelation came amid a day of campaigning dominated by strong accusations by both main parties over their tax plans.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins accused National of a “scam” as he pointed out multiple speeches, interviews and press releases where National had simply stated the average income family with children would get the full amount, with no “up to” mentioned.
“National will provide tax relief to working New Zealanders, with an average-income family with young children receiving $250 a fortnight under our plan,” said finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis in a September 21 press release.
Willis said New Zealanders weren’t “fools” and she believed it was obvious that most households wouldn’t receive the full amount.
“Let’s not treat New Zealanders like fools. The phrase ‘up to’ is easily understood. People know, that’s not a guarantee, people know that that’s the maximum that you could get from it.”
She confirmed the average New Zealander, about 1.4 million people, would get closer to $30 a fortnight, with bigger savings for families with children.
The stoush comes after an analysis by the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) found just 3000 or 0.18 per cent of New Zealand 1.63 million households would receive the full tax relief.
National’s tax plan says the “Back Pocket Boost” would increase after-tax pay for the “squeezed middle, making a family with kids, on the average income of $120,000, up to $250 a fortnight better off, and an average-income child-free household up to $100 a fortnight better off”.
It said the tax relief would come from a combination of adjustments to tax brackets, increases in tax credits for those on “modest incomes”, tax rebates for childcare costs, and increases to Working for Families payments for working families.
Willis pushed back, arguing the “real scam” was that in some advertising Labour was claiming its GST off fruit and vegetables policy would see prices reduce the full 15 per cent, when a portion of that will be absorbed by businesses to administer it.
Hipkins said he was confident the 15 per cent savings in GST would be passed on because of reassurances from the supermarket chains that it would be passed on, and the oversight from the grocery commissioner.
National took a full day to respond to media questions about the figures, initially only responding with attacks from campaign chair Chris Bishop, calling it “gutter politics” and seeking to discredit its origins by pointing out CTU chief economist Craig Renney was a former advisor to Robertson and some of the public relations consultants had also worked with Labour.
Renney told the Herald that National attacking the organisation rather than defending its numbers showed it did not want to engage in the “substance of the debate”.
He said the CTU did a range of analysis, including on Labour policy and from the Treasury.
“We are not working for the Labour Party, we work for workers.”
Renney said their analysis showed a “vanishingly small” number of households would get the full benefit of National’s tax plan.
He said this contrasted with the 350,000 beneficiaries who were in for effective cuts adding up to $2 billion collectively over the next four years, with National pegging annual increases to inflation rather than keeping up with average wages.
Renney said this was particularly concerning given it also applied to those on disability and sickness benefits and were unable to return to work.
Of those on benefits as of June, 170,000 were on Jobseeker, the main unemployment benefit. This included nearly 74,000 people who have a sickness or disability preventing them from working. Just under 100,000 people were classed as “work ready”.
A further 74,166 people receive the sole parent support, and 100,000 received the supported living payment, the main disability benefit for people who cannot work and their carers.
The Herald has calculated by the end of the decade, someone on Jobseeker will be $50 a week worse off under National’s changes, while someone on a disability benefit will be $60 a week worse off. Those figures equate to a cut of $2600 to $3120 a year.
National had justified the lower benefit increase rate as important to keep a gap between benefit rates and average wages to encourage people into work.
Asked how this applied to people on health and disability benefits who could not easily get into work, which make up about half of those main benefits, Willis said they believed benefits should simply keep up with the cost of living.
Asked how this was different to superannuation, which remained pegged to average wage increases, Willis said they were “entitlements”.
The day began with more news about alleged violent behaviour targeting politicians, with Te Pāti Māori saying a man had been served a trespass notice after he allegedly entered candidate Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke’s Huntly house uninvited.
Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere told the Herald the man allegedly opened her front gate yesterday, walked up to the front door and walked into her house. He was confronted by a whānau member in the house. Tamihere claimed the accused had links to the National Party and that it was politically motivated.
It comes after four other incidents involving Maipi-Clarke have been reported to police.
Police responded in a statement confirming the trespass notice but dismissed several other claims made. Detective Inspector Darrell Harpur said an election hoarding had been stolen but there was no ram raid, as claimed.
Police were also unable to establish any criminality regarding an alleged burglary and receipt of a threatening note, nor that any incident constituted a “home-invasion style entry into the house”.
Harpur added they did not believe the incidents had been racially motivated or co-ordinated.
Tamihere told the Herald he believed the police investigation was a “whitewash” and he would take civil action against the trespasser after the election. “Thereby opening up the police inquiry to third party scrutiny.”
In a statement, the National Party said an elderly member of the National Party has had “grossly exaggerated allegations made about them” by Te Pāti Māori.
“It is incredibly disappointing and upsetting for this individual to be dragged into a political stunt like this.”
National revealed earlier in the week several candidates and volunteers had also been attacked while campaigning, claiming instances involved gang members who didn’t like National’s policies.
Police have confirmed three reported incidents matched claims from National, and no further action had been taken.
Meanwhile, Hipkins passed his final day in Covid-19 isolation on Thursday and will resume campaigning in person from today.
In a virtual public meeting on Wednesday night, he acknowledged the “synergy” of being in isolation after being responsible for managed isolation as Covid-19 Response Minister. He also took chance to acknowledge regret over “division” caused by vaccine mandates.
He also gave some advice for Luxon on working with New Zealand First’s Winston Peters, saying he often went back on his word in Cabinet.
Luxon responded he also thought Peters wouldn’t be a stable coalition partner.
“That’s why I don’t want to work with him.”
Peters would be a “last resort” to ensure a change of government, he said.
It comes after another poll had National and Act needing New Zealand First to be able to form a government.
The Talbot Mills poll would give National and Act 58 seats between them - needing New Zealand First’s eight seats to secure a majority.
The same poll had National rising to 38 per cent (up two since the last poll a month ago) and Labour dropping again to 27 per cent (down 3).
Luxon spent the afternoon at Rocket Lab in Auckland where he announced plans for a Minister for Space and a Space Prize for students.
They would also provide a pathway for highly-skilled migrants to work in aerospace with fast-track visas.
Labour’s big announcement for the day was plans to establish an Anti-Scamming Unit to set out the cases where banks are liable to pay compensation if their customers are scammed.
The unit’s work would also include education about scamming schemes, and outline what banks should do to detect and shut down scams.
The Prime Minister is ahead of other big international names.