Willis prodded Labour\u2019s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds over remarks made last year about the coalition\u2019s Investment Boost tax credit, which the latter had spoken warmly of.<\/p>\n
Edmonds has since said Labour would scrap the tax credit, banking $5 billion in savings and putting $1.56b towards a new small business policy. <\/p>\n
She fessed up to liking Investment Boost, but defended the decision to axe it. <\/p>\n
National’s Nicola Willis (left) and Labour’s Barbara Edmonds at a summit in Wellington on Wednesday. Photo \/ Thomas Coughlan<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, [Investment Boost\u2019s] a good policy, but my policy is better, so that\u2019s where we left it,\u201d Edmonds said of the switch.<\/p>\n
Edmonds said Labour\u2019s plan to lift people\u2019s living standards was based on making things cheaper somewhere else. <\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately you give them another transfer \u2013 you allow them to have cheaper expenses somewhere else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said people in her electorate of Mana, most of which will become the Kenepuru electorate at the election, will benefit from Labour\u2019s policy to cap public transport fares at $20 a week in Wellington.<\/p>\n
Willis fired back, arguing that \u201cif you want to have incomes growing faster than the prices of goods … you have to have a faster growing economy that is able to pay them higher wages\u201d.<\/p>\n
National\u2019s deputy leader claimed Labour could not fund its promises, particularly the $11b estimated cost of restoring the old pay equity regime. <\/p>\n
\u201cGood luck finding your $11b,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Willis defended the savings made from her cuts to the regime and said the Government\u2019s decision to axe money for \u201cfunded sector\u201d settlements meant large, profitable companies were not getting public cash for settlements. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019s the Government\u2019s job to fund pay equity settlements for private businesses,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour position is the taxpayer in Porirua, who can\u2019t afford mince on toast, should pay more tax to help Ryman Healthcare with a pay equity settlement.\u201d <\/p>\n
Edmonds said Labour was alive to the concerns of people who knew they had only $8 in their bank account and were \u201csweating when you are taking your car to get a warrant of fitness\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Willis prodded Labour\u2019s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds over remarks made last year about the coalition\u2019s Investment Boost tax…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95,13485,48054,4101,2245,13486,5903,246,1644,42,27699,3556,43,20484,6662,1523,10269,286227,286226,10505,244953,23850,239897,40,38,41,39,1680,52,792],"class_list":["post-581008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-and","tag-barbara","tag-crossing","tag-debate","tag-early","tag-edmonds","tag-election","tag-finance","tag-financial","tag-headlines","tag-labours","tag-national","tag-news","tag-nicola","tag-off","tag-over","tag-policies","tag-politik","tag-spokeswomen","tag-square","tag-squared","tag-summit","tag-swords","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wednesday","tag-wellington","tag-willis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}