Dealing with the cost of living crisis

Labour's addiction to spending and economic mismanagement are driving the cost of living crisis. Inflation is skyrocketing and Kiwis are going backwards. National has a five-point plan to get inflation under control.

Our plan

1. Refocus the Reserve Bank on price stability.

Labour overturned 30 years of history by introducing a dual mandate for the Reserve Bank, asking it to target both maximum sustainable employment and price stability. National would end the experiment and get the Bank focused on one core job: putting the lid back on inflation.

2. Stop adding unnecessary costs to businesses, employers, and the productive economy.

At worst, new costs could push some businesses to the wall and at best they’ll add more upward pressure to already high prices. Here are three examples:

• National would restore interest deductibility for rental properties.
• We would withdraw the Fair Pay Agreement legislation.
• And we would axe the Government’s plans for a Jobs Tax to fund their social insurance pet project.

3. Reduce bottlenecks in the economy that are holding back productive growth. 

We would tackle the dependency crisis that's seen 50,000 more people on jobseeker benefits under Labour, even while job vacancies are at record highs. And we would sort out the immigration policy mess causing New Zealand to lose skilled workers and making it too hard for businesses to welcome desperately needed staff.

4. Income relief for taxpayers.

The Government is one of the only entities to be financially benefiting from inflation. The Government is collecting $41 billion more tax this year compared to 2017 as inflation has hit Kiwis hard.

If elected, National will provide tax relief to New Zealanders, which will at the very least include indexed income tax brackets. It is only fair that at a time where New Zealanders are facing a cost of living crisis, they get to keep more of their own hard earned money.

5. Restore discipline to government spending.

National wants better public services and in government that means we will make the investments needed to deliver them. We will improve health, education and other vital services Kiwis rely on. What we won’t do is accept the lazy approach currently being applied by Labour, which seeks to measure how much a government cares about something by how much taxpayer money it spends on it, instead of the outcomes it delivers.

National understands public spending has no value if it does not deliver real results for people. The next National Government will be relentlessly focused on outcomes, not announcements.

We won’t default to centralising every aspect of the economy, be it polytechnics, local water assets or health services. Nor will we resort to another round of working groups each time we identify a new challenge. National believes every government has a duty to spend taxpayers’ money as effectively and efficiently as possible.

We believe this Labour Government is failing in that duty.