Tax Cuts w/ Adrianne Sawyer, Julie Anne Genter, & David Seymour: October 7th, 2022

Announcements that government finances are in a healthier state than expected have renewed calls from National and ACT to implement tax cuts.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said on Wednesday that books are better thanks to higher taxes and lower spending on Covid-19 support. 

A large reason why the government has received more income from taxes is due to revitalisations in the economy seeing more income gained from the goods and services tax.

Regardless, the opposition parties have stated that high taxes are a major contributor to New Zealand's ongoing cost of living crisis. 

These calls came days after the United Kingdom had been put through economic turmoil after prime minister Liz Truss called for tax cuts for the rich, seeing the pound reach a record low value against the dollar. 

This, alongside other factors, has caused Labour and Green to call the concept of tax cuts absurd. 

Liam had a chat to Green Party finance spokesperson Julie Anne Genter and ACT Party Leader/finance spokesperson David Seymour about their opinions on cutting back taxes, but first they spoke to University of Canterbury economics and taxation professor Adrian Sawyer to help frame the conversation.