Luxon Ditches Bracket Creep Promise as MBIE Wastes Millions

National Party leader Christopher Luxon has backtracked on his pre-election promise to stop 'bracket creep,' which sees workers' wages pushed into higher tax brackets due to inflation. The policy, aimed at protecting taxpayers from hidden tax hikes, was a key part of National's election pledge but has since been quietly dropped. According to a recent report by the Taxpayers' Union, New Zealanders have lost an average of $238 each to bracket creep since 2024 thresholds were introduced.

Luxon's reversal on this issue undermines his party's claim to be the champion of lower taxes. The Taxpayers' Union argues that indexation of income tax thresholds is not a radical new tax cut, but rather a simple measure to prevent the government from collecting more tax without announcing a tax rise.

The report also highlights other examples of wasteful spending and bureaucratic inefficiency in New Zealand's public sector. The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) has been found to have wasted $35 million on an immigration IT project that was abandoned due to 'red flags, delays, and missed milestones.' MBIE officials allegedly lied to ministers about the project's progress and misled them into continuing to fund it.

Meanwhile, local councils in New Zealand have amassed a staggering $1.1 billion art collection, with only one third of the works on display. The Taxpayers' Union criticizes this as an example of 'pork-barreling' and waste by public officials.