No Tax Changes Without Spending Restraint

Prime Minister John Key’s belief that we should strive for a more efficient tax system without implementing constitutional restraints against excessive Government spending is stupid, ACT New Zealand Finance Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas said today.

"We’ve all played this game before. One Government will give us a more efficient taxation system, then another will come into power and all those taxes will increase. Government spending will soar. That will lead to deficits, which will create a need to make the tax system more efficient again, thus repeating the cycle," Sir Roger said.

"The spending cuts must come first. Once we have cut spending, then we can cut taxes. If we want to make the tax system more efficient, we need constitutional restraints against excessive levels of Government expenditure. It is only when we have stopped the Government from exploiting the taxpayer that we can aim for efficiency.

"It seems that Labour always come into Government with grand visions for more state spending and massive social programs. If National think its role is to only temporarily freeze the growth in state spending, then it’s no wonder we are sacrificing more and more of our resources to bureaucrats and politicians in Wellington," Sir Roger said.