250,000 Kiwis now pay 39-cent tax rate

Thursday 2 Dec 2004

Rodney Hide - Press Releases - Other

ACT Leader Rodney Hide today asked the Finance Minister to drop his dopey 39-cent tax rate and give a Christmas bonus to the 250,000 full-time workers now forced to pay it.

In a question from Mr Hide, Dr Cullen revealed that Treasury estimates that 22% of full-time workers will pay the 39-cent tax in the 2004/05 financial year. This is up from 15%, or 150,000 people, in the 1999/2000 financial year.

"When Labour hiked up the top tax in 1999 it promised it would affect only 5% of all taxpayers. But Treasury now estimates that a staggering 250,000 people pay this unnecessary and confiscatory tax rate.

"The time is now right for Labour to ditch this envy tax on success. It would be a significant Christmas bonus from a man who is increasingly looking like Scrooge. But Dr Cullen would rather swim awash in taxpayer cash than give any hard-working New Zealander a Christmas bonus," said Mr Hide.

ENDS

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