National Party leader Christopher Luxon promises to give a ‘receipt’ to every taxpayer if elected

National Party leader Christopher Luxon has promised taxpayers will receive a “receipt” from his government outlining how their tax has been spent.

Luxon, speaking on Monday to the Auckland Business Chamber ahead of the Government’s Budget, promised to bring “fiscal discipline” to Wellington if elected in October.

He said National would require Treasury to report annually on major spending programmes, and require Inland Revenue to provide a “taxpayer’s receipt” which tells each taxpayer how much they’ve paid and received, and a breakdown on where the Government is spending taxes.

“Unless you’ve worked in the machinery of Wellington, where you’ve trained as an accountant or in economic, it’s just impossible to work out how much money the government spends and where it’s all going,” Luxon said.

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“It is your money, and you deserve to know what exactly it has been spent on.”

National would also tie a portion of the pay received by public sector chief executives, and their deputies, to their performance, Luxon said. This was the case until 2019, when the Government wrapped these “at-risk” payments into the base salaries of chief executives.

He said Prime Minister Chris Hipkins had, as public service minister, “eliminated motivation, I think, for delivering extraordinary achievement and outcomes … and it’s no surprise since that decision, there’s been a hollowing out of public sector performance”.

In his speech, Luxon cast the Government as having “abused” taxpayers and being “totally confused” about its role in the economy, “leading businesses astray”.

“I want to bring trust back to the relationship between business and Government … I will lead a Government that genuinely listens, not as a risk management exercise or to get CEOs off our back.

“But with that trust, I expect businesses to come to the table. I want everything you’ve got. I want your creativity. I want your vision … to take New Zealand up a gear and to get our economic engine humming again.”

On Monday morning, Hipkins gave the latest in a series of pre-Budget spending announcements at Ridgway Primary School, in Wellington. The Government will deliver its Budget on Thursday.

He said the Government would spend $300 million to support roll growth at schools, $100m for short term pressures, and $100m for the construction of four new schools and school expansions.

In total 300 new school classrooms were expected to be built, and 6600 new spaces for students created.

Hipkins’ announcement comes a day after the Government earmarked $1 billion to rebuild roads, rail, schools, invest in child mental health support in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti, and flood defences, as the regions recover after Cyclone Gabrielle.

On Saturday, the government also put nearly $75m in the Budget to grow schemes it hopes will help stamp out family and sexual violence. Last week, he announced $419m for soldiers’ wages, $243m for defence assets, and $85m for housing on defence bases.

Also on Monday morning, the ACT Party released its ‘alternative budget’, describing it as “steeped in ACT’s guiding principle that people can make a difference in their own lives”.

The party promised to cut down the five income tax rates to two, reduce the number of public servants “and remove whole departments” and increase defence spend to 2% of GDP.

A Newhub-Reid Research poll also released on Sunday had Labour at 35.9% and National at 35.3%. Both would be looking to the minor parties to form a Government come October’s election.