Labour lining up households for more costs

“Labour’s planned rewrite of monetary policy threatens to load even more costs on to households at a time when they’re screaming out for relief from relentlessly high mortgage rates,” says National Party Finance spokesman Bill English.

He’s commenting following Trevor Mallard’s confirmation that Labour is preparing to change the monetary policy framework.

“Labour’s policy would pave the way for higher inflation, and push interest rates higher for longer. Inflation is the most corrosive on the incomes of those who are most vulnerable, and with inflation picked to rise as high as 5%, now is not the time to give up on sensible economic management.”

Mr English says the ad-hoc re-write of monetary policy comes in the same week that the Government revealed just how big a hole it has dug for taxpayers in the renationalisation of the rail service.

“The size of the liability just keeps rising. It has gone from $665 million, to what the Prime Minister said this week could be a spend of up to $1.7 billion. It has also been revealed standard cost-benefit analysis hasn’t been done.

“Labour has saddled the taxpayer with enormous on-going costs for the sake of an election-year headline and a photo with freshly painted trains. It’s clear that no one in Labour quite knows how big the liability will be.

“Having overseen the brain drain, they’re setting taxpayers up for the train drain.

“In the meantime, the Government continues to load more costs on to Kiwis, with things like the big increase in Road User Charges, introduced in the dead-of-night. These were increases that Labour promised to consult on, but didn’t.

“Inevitably, these costs will also be passed on households.

“And that’s in the same week we discover that electricity consumers will face new levies because the Electricity Commission needs urgent cash to get it through winter power shortages.

“All these stealth taxes are adding up to put a substantial dent in the household budget, just as the Government posts another surplus. Yet, all Labour can do in response is try to smear their political opponents and float ill-conceived new policies that will add up to put even more pressure on the family budget.

“Helen Clark’s government has clearly lost its way.”

ENDS

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