Key says don’t raise taxes

Stuff reports:

Raising taxes to recover the billions of dollars the government has been spending through the Covid-19 crisis may not be the best way forward, says former Prime Minister Sir John Key. …

In an interview with Radio Tarana, Key praised the government’s efforts to contain and eliminate Covid-19, but warned of consequences of the large spending during lockdown keeping businesses afloat and paying wage subsidies.

“They’re spending a tremendous amount of money and it’s appropriate that they’re doing so, but the question is will they try and recoup that through higher taxes?

“I certainly hope that they don’t, not in the short term anyway, because that will slow the economy down further and cost more jobs,” said Key, who served as Prime Minister 2008 to 2016.

I hope they listen to Key but I suspect they won’t. I think Labour will look to use this crisis to do what they have long wanted – to whack up taxes.