Christopher Luxon has slammed Government spending as inflation in NZ soars, but struggled to pinpoint how the spending was directly responsible during an interview with Q+A's Jack Tame.
Last week figures released by Stats NZ showed inflation has hit it's highest peak in Aotearoa since June 1990.
The National Party has continuously accused the Government of not doing enough to stop the spike in inflation.
During their long interview on Sunday, Tame asked Luxon what specific Government spending has led to the record high inflation Kiwis are experiencing right now.
Luxon singled-out a number of Government funded projects, such as the health restructure and proposed slow train services, however the National Party leader failed to explain how this spending has directly led to inflation.
"There is dumb stuff, there is wasteful spending going on. There are things that are working exceptionally well, we should continue to fund and actually strengthen the funding there. There are other things that aren't working well," said Luxon.
In response to Tame saying these examples didn't "amount to more than one or two percent of Government spending" and being a "drop in the ocean" of Crown spending, Luxon continued to defend National's position on the Government's "reckless" use of taxpayer money.
"Small actions make up to make a big difference. You've got a culture where you're happy to let $100 million slide, you're happy to say an $800 million dollar walking and cycling path is a brilliant idea and it's not," said Luxon.
Replying to Tame pointing out the walking and cycling path actually amounted to $51m, $750m less than what was first proposed, Luxon responded: "The bigger issue behind that is why did the Government think that was a stellar idea, why did they think they were going to spend $800 million of taxpayer's money?"
Luxon on tax cuts
The National Party leader also claimed those being squeezed the most with rising cost of living are Kiwis earning $55,000 - $80,000 a year.
"They're doing it incredibly tough. They're not rich sitting in this country, not getting Government assistance or help," said Luxon.
Over the last few weeks National has been pushing for tax cuts for the "squeezed middle" to provide relief from the rising costs of living.
National has also called to cut taxes for those in the top bracket.
When asked how much more money Luxon would be receiving if these tax cuts were passed and he was prime minister, the National Party leader claimed he didn't know but he is earning above $180,000.
Tame then asked why someone who earns almost half a million dollars annually as prime minister would need a tax cut of $18,000 a year.
"What we're talking about here is saying we have inflation in our economy, that is the number one problem that we have to deal with in New Zealand... we're saying very simply, why don't we just lift the taxation thresholds today so that everyone doesn't get caught in tax brackets?" said Luxon.
Many economists have warned that introducing tax cuts could lead to further rises in inflation - giving people more money to spend may drive up demand.
Luxon says his tax cuts are different because: "Grant Robertson is about to give himself $6b - the biggest increase in the budget in the history of New Zealand - and all of that is going to be inflationary. Our tax cuts come out of that, they're about $1.7b, we think it would be a good idea to do these inflation adjusted tax thresholds it's no more inflationary than Grant Robertson's $6b."
"So it's the same, it's still inflation?" asked Tame.
"It's exactly the same, I could argue too it could be slightly better because New Zealanders may choose to save their money or spend it - Grant Robertson's going to spend it," Luxon replied.
Asked if he would scrap the Reserve Bank's dual mandate, Luxon responded: "We've got to respect the independence of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand but it's now got a dual mandate which is about price stability but also about employment, and what I'd say to you is it needs to be ruthlessly focused on price stability. We've always felt that, it keeps inflation within a 1-3 percent ban and that's the most important things we've got to do right now."
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