"To further stoke consumption with yet another round of tax cuts when imports are already galloping ahead of exports would be irresponsible," Labour finance spokesperson Michael Cullen said today.

Dr Cullen was commenting on the overseas merchandise trade figures for August showing a monthly deficit of $433 million. This result is more than twice as bad as the average August deficit for the 1990s.

"The last thing an economy in this position needs is further income tax cuts because that will only increase the appetite for imports. What we need is a strategy to strengthen the country's export base and to lessen our reliance on primary production.

"That has been well understood by Labour for a long time but National took until its ninth year in power to even acknowledge the problem. That represents nine years of lost opportunity.

"New Zealand desperately needs the kind of economic leadership and change in direction that Labour is offering. November 27 can't come soon enough," Dr Cullen said.

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