The secret mini-Budget
The Herald starts to ask the obvious questions about Labour’s planned mini-Bduget for December – how much will it cost?
Labour will not reveal how much more taxpayers money they will spend. Labour won’t reveal how much more debt they will incur. And Labour won’t reveal how much they will increase taxes by to pay for it.
You could understand an Opposition newly elected to Office doing a mini-Budget once it finds out how bad the books are. But Labour is in Government – it has daily updates from Treasury and the Reserve Bank if necessary.
Labour had previously accused National of three things
- A secret agenda
- Uncosted policies
- Increasing debt (Clark said it was “mind-boggling stupid” to do so)
We now know that it is in fact Labour doing all these things. They are refusing to give details of some of their spending plans or tax increases (or rule them out), saying we will tell you after the election.
They are making promises (such as superannuation) that have not been costed (the media are having to do it for them).
They are announcing spending bribes everywhere, despite a projected decade of deficits. EIther debt will skyrocket or they will have to put tax rates up. They are incapable of trimming existing Government spending.