It said this would be paid for through introducing other taxes and levies or cutting spending elsewhere - a pledge key to the party’s promise to borrow less than Labour.
Since coming into Government, worsening economic and fiscal forecasts and costly political commitments have cast doubt on that plan. Multiple commentators have argued the plan be ditched until the books were in better shape.
The poll asked: “The National Party’s tax policy at the election promised to shift tax bracket thresholds to partially compensate for the effect of inflation. This would reduce the tax on full time workers from between $24 and $51 a fortnight depending on income. Proponents of the tax cuts say they will provide relief to families, while opponents say they are unaffordable. Do you think the Government should deliver the tax cuts that were in National’s election policy”.
Tax cut polls can be fraught.
Voters almost always tell pollsters they want tax cuts, because most people naturally want to pay less tax.
They do not always translate into party support because voters will not always see the trade-offs parties are willing to make for their tax cuts as worthwhile.
Fifty-three per cent support for the cuts could be seen as fairly soft.
Although similar to a 1 News-Kantar poll from May last year, which found 52 per cent of voters wanted tax cuts compared to 35 per cent who didn’t.
A Newshub Reid Research Poll from last October found 84.5 per cent of voters wanted a tax free threshold compared to just 9.1 per cent who opposed it.
While another Newshub Reid Research Poll, this time from June 2022, found 68.7 per cent wanted tax cuts, compared to 23.7 per cent who did not.
Callum Purves, Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, said the poll was “in the field at a time when there were a significant number of stories about jobs cuts across the public sector”.
“While we should never ignore undecideds, I would make the case that the 29 per cent opposition to the tax relief is smaller than might be expected given the framing by the opposition and the unions of the public service savings,” Purves said.
Purves said the poll showed Kiwis were “strongly of the view that Nicola Willis should hold firm on the tax relief commitments National made during the election”.
“Government spending has increased by 84 per cent since 2017 yet the quality of services continues to decline across the public sector.
“It’s the worst of both worlds: New Zealanders are paying more and getting less.
“Not only have Kiwis not had a tax break for 14 years but the failure to adjust income tax brackets for inflation has forced them to pay more and more of their wages in tax each year.
“The Government must deliver on its tax relief promises while going further and faster to cut back the bureaucratic bloat in Wellington,” he said.
A random sample of 1,000 adult New Zealanders were polled and results weighted to the overall adult population. It was conducted by phone (landlines and mobile) and online between April 2 and April 4, 2024, with a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 per cent.
Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.
