ℕ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕥𝕠 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕥𝕒𝕩𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕡𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕒𝕩 𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕤

ℕ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝'𝕤 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕤𝕡𝕠𝕜𝕖𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟 ℕ𝕚𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕒 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕥𝕒𝕩 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕝𝕦𝕕𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕥𝕒𝕩𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕒𝕩 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 𝕡𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕒𝕩 𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕤.

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t comes ahead of the party releasing its new tax plan, which Willis told Morning Report on Tuesday would let "working people, middle-income earners who are particularly squeezed, keep more of what they earn".

When announced, Willis said the view most New Zealanders would have is "gosh, why weren't those taxes already in place?".

She and party leader Christopher Luxon gave more details when speaking to reporters at Parliament on Tuesday, including confirming the tax policy would be unveiled on Wednesday.

Willis said it would include four new sources of revenue.

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"We've put it together in a way so that it is self-funding, so that even if Labour as predicted leave the books in a total mess we can guarantee that working New Zealanders will get a tax break," she said.

"There will be four additional revenue measures in our tax plan. They will be specific, they will be targeted."

She also laid out a trio of self-imposed restrictions.

"There's three things you need to know about our tax plan: first it will put no pressure on inflation, second it requires no additional borrowing and third we can fully deliver it regardless of the state that Labour leaves the books in."

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On Monday, the Labour Party had announced its plan to slash another $4 billion from government spending over the next few years if re-elected, which National called "too little, too late".

Willis told Morning Report it was nothing to celebrate.

"The government is spending around $1b more every week compared to when it came to office. And now what it's telling you is you should congratulate them for reducing their spending $1b a year."

Though not quite going so far as ACT's proposed $35b slash and burn, National wants to cut spending further than Labour. Willis would not rule out job losses in the public sector as a result.

"I won't rule that out. But what I expect is that there are a number of job vacancies across government which may no longer be filled and there are, of course, going to be some roles which won't be relevant when there's a change of government.

"For example, people working on the income insurance scheme, the jobs tax proposal that Labour has put forward… We want to be very careful to focus our spending reprioritisation on reducing the size of the backroom bureaucracy, but protecting front line services. And in particular, we've committed that we will be increasing funding for frontline health and education services every year that we are in office."

In addition to reprioritisation and potential headcount cuts, Willis said National's tax plan would find new revenue streams "which will allow us to responsibly fund our plan to reduce income taxes for the squeezed middle of working New Zealanders".

The previous National government did something similar under Sir John Key - cutting income taxes and raising GST, despite a campaign promise not to do the latter, in a move described at the time as fiscally neutral. National's current policy of tax cuts to adjust brackets for inflation has been costed at around $2b a year.

"We are a party of low taxes, particularly for working people who we think deserve to keep more of what they earn, especially in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis," Willis said.

"What we've identified is some areas of unfairness in the existing tax system, and we will be proposing some targeted revenue measures that will allow us to let working people, middle-income earners who are particularly squeezed, keep more of what they earn."

She denied this would mean cutting or restricting access to superannuation, nor introducing taxes on wealth, capital gains or inheritances.

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Speculation over tax on charities, churches

Asked about a potential tax on charities, such as churches, Willis again told Morning ReportNational would unveil its tax plan shortly.

"As I said, I'm not gonna go into the details of our tax plan today except to say that our focus, our complete focus is that squeezed middle of New Zealanders who are being overtaxed, who have been hit hard by inflation and rising mortgage payments. They are crying out for relief, and National is gonna give it."

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