“More bad news for New Zealanders as the cost of living once again skyrockets,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“Excluding quarters impacted by increases to GST rates, the September quarter movement was the highest since the June 1987 quarter, which saw a 3.3 percent rise.
“As ACT’s Associate Finance spokesperson Damien Smith pointed out to Parliament, Stats NZ was the only outfit in the country that didn’t know about inflation.
“The rest of New Zealand has been feeling it at the pump, in the vege aisle and even at the fish and chip shop with the price of battered fish rising 5.3 per cent year on year.
“None of that is to mention the devastating effect of 30 per cent house price inflation on a young generation trying to find their way in the world, hoping to follow their parents and grandparents into a property-owning democracy.
“As you might expect us to say at this point in an ACT press release – the Government is to blame, and you’ll be wanting to know why.
“This Government has modified the Reserve Bank Act, giving the bank a dual mandate of fighting inflation and maintaining employment rates. It now has an excuse to pursue any policy track it likes, with a choice of mandates to justify it.
“The Government also modified the governance politicising the bank by putting a Treasury representative on the Monetary Policy Committee.
“The Government’s relentless focus on regulation and redistribution, added to global supply chain interruptions, has further fuelled inflation with too much money chasing too few goods.
“The Government has been the biggest beneficiary of the inflation with GST, business and personal taxes swelling the Government’s coffers to a record $98 billion.
“The obvious solution is to implement ACT’s tax policy removing the 39 cent envy tax rate, and cutting the middle rate of 30 cents, to 17.5. This policy would deliver the average full-time worker around $2000 a year to help deal with the rising cost of living.”