Grant Robertson must urgently respond to spiking inflation with an adjustment of tax brackets, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in response to Stats NZ’s latest inflation figures.

Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “At the Reserve Bank’s last forecast, inflation was expected to hit 5.7% in March, but inflation has already hit 5.9% – that’s two months early.”

"Inflation doesn’t just hammer New Zealanders with higher prices – it also means we pay more in income tax. As salaries scramble upwards to keep up with rising costs, New Zealanders end up in higher income tax brackets, despite being or worse off in real terms. Workers are whacked once with inflation, and again with a tax hike."

"The dirty secret of inflation is that Grant Robertson benefits from it. More tax revenue means he can make bigger spending promises – spending that itself serves to bid up the cost of goods and services, fueling inflation further."

"There is one simple thing the Grant Robertson can do to avoid the perception he’s got a vested interest in driving up inflation – he needs to urgently adjust tax brackets and index them to shift automatically to counter the effects of rising costs."

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