18 April 2002

"Claims in Parliament yesterday by the Finance Minister that tax reductions are not good for growth are blatantly wrong," says National Finance spokesman David Carter.

Mr Carter says Dr Cullen's selective use of figures to back-up the Government's high-tax policy does serious damage to his credibility and proves how out of sync his policies are with most other nations.

"National will reduce the corporate tax because it gives businesses more money to reinvest, which means higher growth and more jobs."

Mr Carter says National will also reduce the top personal tax rate because it believes in rewarding people's success not punishing it.

"Lower personal taxes are important because we are an economy of small businesses and two thirds of these businesses pay personal not corporate tax. We believe it is important to lower taxes for all New Zealand businesses - not just corporates.

"Lower taxes are good for the economy, but they are no silver bullet. Tax reductions are only part of National's comprehensive economic framework, which will help lift our long-term, sustainable growth rate and benefit all New Zealanders.

Mr Carter says the country can't have world-class health and education without a world-class economy to pay for them.

"Dr Cullen continues to practise envy politics. His latest contention that people with an annual income of $38,000 are wealthy is simply not credible and is more evidence that the only thing economical about his claims is the truth," Mr Carter concluded.

Ends

© Scoop Media