Monday 30th November 2009 |
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Government spending cuts of between $7 billion and $9 billion a year would allow massive tax cuts that would offer "a package that would lift the income of New Zealanders very substantially", says the chair of the 2025 Productivity Taskforce, Dr Don Brash.
Unveiling the taskforce's recommendations, the most radical proposals are to:
Other recommendations include strongly encouraging the Fonterra cooperative to become a normal company, removal of the Zespri monopoly on kiwifruit exports, and abolishing health and childcare subsidies that reward healthy, middle-class New Zealanders.
Challenged on the extent to which the report, is the product of the Act/National reflects Act policies, Brash said: "Is there a constituency for closing the gap? To the extent that we don't start closing the gap quickly, less of kids and grandkids will live here."
Charged with identifying policies to close the A$16,000 gap between the per capita gross domestic product of Australians and New Zealanders, the taskforce's 35 recommendations which in large part rehash politically unpopular prescriptions that have either burned or been rejected by previous governments.
However, Brash appealed to Prime Minister John Key's "extraordinary communication skills" and played down Key's rejection in advance of huge tax and spending cuts, and a preference for Australia's "incremental" approach to economic growth.
Businesswire.co.nz
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