Business NZ should endorse Progressive's plan over National's

Business NZ will on Thursday wade into the political arena with the release of its publication on tax and it should use the opportunity to stand up for the interests of small-to-medium sized businesses, instead of representing big corporations, says Progressive leader Jim Anderton.

"Business NZ officials need to remember that they aren't the Business Roundtable. The Business Roundtable is there to represent the views of the chief executives of the large, mainly foreign-owned companies, that have operations in New Zealand.

"Business NZ is there to be the champion of small-to-medium sized Kiwi businesses sometimes run on a shoe-string by hard-working mums and dads, many of whom have mortgages against their own family homes to help fund their business expansion.

"National's threat to increase the central government's overseas borrowings, in order to deliver unsustainably large income tax cuts for high income earners, by definition means that the debt-financing costs of small businesses would be higher under a National-led government than under a Labour-Progressive one," Jim Anderton said.

"Small Kiwi businesses are much more sensitive to even very small changes in debt servicing costs than large, multi-national companies because multinationals have more options to source their borrowings in currencies and markets other than New Zealand and are positioned to hedge against changes in local market sentiment," Jim Anderton said.

"Because Business NZ represents medium and small businesses, it should tomorrow come out strongly in support of the Progressive Party's Package to Address Skill Shortages and Progressive's economy-enhancing commitment to cut the company tax rate next April," Jim Anderton said.

"Business NZ should condemn National's failure to seriously address skills shortages and it should absolutely condemn National for putting unsustainable, overseas debt-financed income tax cuts, which are no more than electoral bribes, ahead of immediate corporate tax relief.

"Building up our skills and training stock, and reducing corporate tax, are two vital ingredients in improving productivity and expanding both economic and social development," the Progressive leader said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media