Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was briefly lost for words this afternoon responding to a National Party policy to introduce taxpayer receipts.
It follows National Party leader Christopher Luxon announcing the policy earlier today, as part of a three-pronged policy initiative to boost fiscal discipline.
It included introducing taxpayer receipts, which would break down where tax money had been spent. Luxon said an incoming National government would also tie public sector chief executives' pay to achievement "in order to encourage high performance and ensure accountability" and require Treasury to annually report on the performance of major programmes.
Asked what he thought about taxpayer receipts in his post-Cabinet press conference today, Hipkins paused for seven seconds, chuckling occasionally.
"People can form their own judgements on that, it's kind of a bit like pledging to bring back the bank statement really.
"Ultimately, anyone can look up on their myIR website, any day, how much tax they have paid. That information's publicly available.
"Every year when the Budget is released, we release a summary of where taxpayer money goes.
"The National Party now seem to be proposing to send out 4.3 million spin doctor-y type letters to people explaining where their tax dollars are going."
Hipkins said the policy suggested National's priorities were "in the wrong place".
"This is Budget week, this is the week where we talk about the big issues that are in front of New Zealanders. If the thing that the National Party think is the most pressing priority for New Zealanders is to receive, effectively, a bank statement of how much they've paid in tax, I think that that suggests they've got their priorities all wrong.
"This is their opportunity to set out what they would do differently in government. If this is the best that they can come up with I think maybe it's time for them to go back to the drawing board."
Hipkins said he thought the policy would be "an incredible waste of money".
"It's certainly not going to be a cost-free exercise. Someone would have to pay for those letters to be written and for them to be sent out. Ultimately that's going to involve employing people to do that."
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