Don't give tax cuts to those who don't need them.
11/03/22
Josie's Dominion Post column about the National Party leader's State of the Nation speech here.
Winter is coming. War in Ukraine will push energy prices higher, and energy costs flow into everything that is transported. Russia and Ukraine are dominant exporters of wheat, so bread will go up. Interest rates will rise to keep a lid on inflation, which means the cost of a mortgage (and rents) will increase.
If you aspire to govern then you need a better plan for these conditions than one that has the credibility of Soviet fiscal pixies.
If you accept that subsidies to help in a crisis are necessary, you also have to accept that someone has to pay for them. Promising tax cuts at the very moment the bill for helping comes due is the playbook of a leaden party doctrine, not a party serious about governing.
A party that encourages higher house prices and more speculation in this economy is not serious about governing.
Winter is coming. War in Ukraine will push energy prices higher, and energy costs flow into everything that is transported. Russia and Ukraine are dominant exporters of wheat, so bread will go up. Interest rates will rise to keep a lid on inflation, which means the cost of a mortgage (and rents) will increase.
If you aspire to govern then you need a better plan for these conditions than one that has the credibility of Soviet fiscal pixies.
If you accept that subsidies to help in a crisis are necessary, you also have to accept that someone has to pay for them. Promising tax cuts at the very moment the bill for helping comes due is the playbook of a leaden party doctrine, not a party serious about governing.
A party that encourages higher house prices and more speculation in this economy is not serious about governing.
