"Bill English is pushing up hill with his endless attempts to scaremonger on Labour's tax plans," Labour finance spokesperson Michael Cullen said today.

"We have made it as plain as Mr English's face that 95 percent of taxpayers will pay no more taxes under Labour. We have been upfront about our intention to impose a modest tax increase on incomes over $60,000.

"We don't think it unreasonable to ask higher income earners to pay a little more given how well they have done out of the economic reforms of the last decade and out of National's regressive tax policies.

"We will also have $800 million more each year than captured in the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update; - the $400 million we will raise through our intended tax increase and the $400 million a year we will save through not implementing Mr English's tax cut," Dr Cullen said.

Dr Cullen was responding to Mr English's claim that Labour would introduce new taxes beyond the one it has notified voters of.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>