Hon Bill English
Minister of Finance

29 April 2014

Lower-income Kiwis would pay for Labour’s “tool”

Labour’s plan to use New Zealanders’ retirement savings as a monetary policy tool would hit low and middle-income New Zealanders hardest, and not achieve what Labour thinks it would, Finance Minister Bill English says.

“This idea mixes up people’s own retirement savings – which require certainty over a long period – with the Government’s monetary policy, which the Reserve Bank reviews and can change every six weeks. The two are completely different and should stay that way.

“Labour’s approach will force people to save at least 9 per cent of their wages, plus more when the Government decides to up the contribution rate. This cut in take-home pay would hit hardest those low and middle-income families who are unable to save much, or who are focusing on paying their mortgages.

“Our current monetary policy settings are considered world-best practice. In the last few years we’ve come through a domestic recession and a global financial crisis and now have sustained economic growth, increasing wages and jobs and interest rates are just coming off 50-year lows.

“Labour’s ‘tool’ is a confusing solution looking for a problem. This is wishful thinking and there is no evidence it would actually work. Even if it did, it would require Kiwi families to accept a higher cost of living and higher compulsory savings at the same time, which would be a double squeeze on them.

“Labour has a recent history of over-spending in government. It should commit to spending less itself, rather than forcing householders to do the hard work for it.

“Low and middle-income earners would be paying the price for Labour’s lack of discipline,” Mr English says.

ENDS

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