National’s Nicola Willis has claimed that Labour will soon announce policy to take GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.
While this should be taken with a considerable grain of salt, as it is coming from National, Chris Hipkins has not refuted it. Time will tell.
From Katie Scotcher at Radio New Zealand:
National is claiming to know details of Labour’s soon-to-be-announced tax policy, suggesting the party will campaign on removing GST from fruit and vegetables.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins is not denying National’s claims, saying “we haven’t announced our tax policy yet… people can speculate all they like”.
National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis said she understood Labour’s policy included the removal of the 15 percent tax on fruit and vegetables.
When asked how she knew details of Labour’s policy, Willis replied: “there’s been quite a lot of leaks out of the government lately”.
“This is information that has come to me that I believe to be true.”
The policy has been labour policy in the past. It was election policy in 2011. In 2014 under David Cunliffe it was reversed.
The policy is problematic. The cost of implementing the system would be considerable, it creates confusion at the edges and initial gains may be absorbed by supermarkets rather than passed on to consumers.
But it is a potentially popular policy and could wrest the initiative for Labour. Right now Labour could use some momentum.
And there will be some pressure on Labour to complete this if it regains power. Te Pāti Māori have proposed the removal of GST off all kai.
Time will tell if this is party policy.
As for the leaker given the size of National’s war chest anything is possible. Time will tell.
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