Democracy Project, Summarised by Centrist

PM Hipkins’ announcement that – if reelected – Labour will remove GST from fruit and vegetables, to help New Zealanders struggling with the rising cost of living, is being heavily criticised. Particularly by political editors and commentators.

These savings will be absorbed by the “duopoly” supermarket chains in NZ – Foodstuffs and Woolworths – and those involved in fighting “over the tax rules”, such as lawyers, accountants and administrators.

If any savings do “trickle down” to consumers they’ll mostly benefit the wealthy because they buy the most fruit and veg.

Ultimately, removing the GST from fruit and veg just makes our tax system more complicated. 

Despite Labour saying polls suggest the policy is popular with voters, commentary on the new policy has been almost entirely negative, with many political journalists suggesting that the policy reflects poorly on the health and integrity of the Labour Government.

Labour’s GST policy might be electorally clever, but it’s also somewhat pathetic because it relies on supermarkets to deliver cost of living support.

Unfortunately for Labour, the GST “supermarket subsidy” has the timidity to disappoint the left and is flawed enough to win the disdain of voters in the Centre.

Read the full article over at Democracy Project