The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on MPs to put their money where their mouths are and implement a pay freeze rather than accept a taxpayer-funded pay hike at a time when many families are going backwards.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Every year, politicians reach deeper and deeper into New Zealanders’ pockets as inflation pushes people into higher tax brackets. This year, the money pulled out will be getting stuffed straight into the pockets of politicians.

“With the economy in recession, New Zealanders are quite literally getting poorer as there is less and less pie to be shared among more and more people. It is completely unjustified to accept a pay rise at a time when the economy is doing so poorly, government spending is out of control, and inflation is persistently high.

“Jacinda Ardern, to her credit, showed leadership when introducing a pay freeze for MPs in 2018 and actually cut MP pay during the pandemic. This Government must lead from the front when it comes to reducing spending, and a good first step would be to follow Ardern’s example and tighten their own personal belts.

“It’ll be a lot harder to get the public service on board with spending reductions if they see MPs continuing to ride the gravy train. When David Seymour points out that thousands-upon-thousands of bureaucrats are earning more than MPs, the answer should be to cut the number of overpaid execs rather than hiking MPs’ salaries.

“If politicians want more money in their own pockets, they should cut wasteful spending to deliver more tax relief that benefits all workers, including MPs.”

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