National is set to reveal its full tax policy later today but has revealed it will be targeting what it describes as the "squeezed middle" with tax relief.
National says under its scheme, a large number of Kiwis will receive a financial boost through tax relief from July 1 next year.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon told Breakfast this morning: "We've got a great package and a great programme of support to help the squeezed middle.
"They can't get ahead under this government that's hammered them with high inflation, high interest rates and now put the economy into recession.
"Help is on the way, and that's what we're going to announce at 10.30 today."
The National leader revealed more details ahead of the party's tax policy announcement. (Source: Breakfast)
Luxon said the party wants people to "keep more of their own money" to navigate the cost of living.
He said average income workers were "the people in New Zealand that are doing it incredibly tough".
"They're being smashed with high rents, they're being smashed with high food prices, they're being smashed with high mortgage rates, and no matter how hard they work they feel they just can't get ahead."
And he seemed to hint at the removal of a fuel tax or taxes when he said: "They're also going to benefit from other changes around other taxes around fuel and other things they won't be hit with as well."
An early look at National's plan
The average income household (earning a combined $120,000) that has no kids would receive up to a $100 boost per fortnight under the policy.
Meanwhile, the average income household with children would receive up to a $250 boost per fortnight. A couple receiving superannuation would receive up to a $26 boost per fortnight.
Median income full-time workers (earning $60,000) would receive up to $50 per fortnight, while a full-time minimum wage worker would receive up to $20 per fortnight.
Asked why a full-time minimum wage worker would receive the least, Luxon said: "That's a lot better under the National plan than it is under the Labour plan... It is better than two cents off a carrot."
He also said some full-time minimum wage workers get other entitlements such as an accommodation supplement.
Any Kiwis earning more than $78,100 would receive up to $40 a fortnight, he revealed.
"If you earn above that amount, you get exactly the same dollar amount essentially," Luxon said.
"If you earn $80,000 or you're a millionaire, you're going to get the same dollar amount. And the really great thing here is if you're an average income worker you will have a higher dollar amount than the people who have incomes higher than $78,100."
The National leader himself would fall into the $40-a-fortnight bracket, he acknowledged.
That cap is in place so the money can be targeted at the "squeezed middle", he said.
And health and education would not be cut to pay for the tax relief, Luxon guaranteed.
National has been under pressure to reveal their tax policy and how they plan to pay for it.
The party's finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said yesterday there would be "four additional revenue measures" in the plan in order to finance the tax cuts. Those measures would be "specific" and "targeted", she said.
Luxon said this morning the plan will be paid for through "sensible savings and prioritisation" with "wasteful spending" slashed.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins believed the only people that would be happy would be the wealthy.
"They'll introduce four new taxes in order to introduce tax breaks for millionaires and property owners," he said.
Luxon took a different view.
"When you talk to people that have been leaving New Zealand, that's the feeling that they have, that no matter how hard they work they can't get ahead," he said.
"The bottom line in this country has to be, if you're prepared to work hard in the best country on planet Earth, you deserve to get ahead."
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