Labour’s recipe for jobs: more costs on business
Friday, 11 November 2011, 2:49 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party
Hon Steven Joyce
National Party
Campaign Chair
11 November 2011 Media Statement
Labour’s recipe for jobs: more costs on business
Just as Labour believes the answer to debt is more debt, its flawed answer to creating more jobs is dumping more costs on businesses, National Party campaign chair Steven Joyce says.
“Its proposal to quickly increase the minimum wage would cost thousands of jobs across New Zealand,” he says.
“Advice from the Labour Department is that a jump of $2 an hour would affect nearly 6,000 jobs.
“The claim that Treasury does not think the minimum wage affects jobs is wrong. It was based on an edited quote from an exchange of views between a Treasury staff member and a Labour Department staff member about the youth minimum wage.
“The Treasury has told the Government that the minimum wage does impact on employment.
“A sudden increase minimum wage is just one of at least 10 expensive costs Labour would impose on businesses.”
The other nine are:
o A capital gains tax on all businesses
o A more than doubling of employer KiwiSaver costs
o Irrigation taxes
o Accelerated ETS tax on the farming sector
o Cancellation of the 90-day trial period
o A return to 1970s industrial relations policies
o A wind-back of National’s ACC changes, meaning higher ACC levies
o Extra transport charges
o Lifting interest rates by borrowing an additional $15.6 billion over four years
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“Any business person knows that if you add costs to your business, it’s harder to sell things and it’s harder to be successful,” Mr Joyce says. “If you add 10 costs, then that would send them reeling.
“If you take all of Labour’s extra costs together, they would undoubtedly cost thousands of New Zealand jobs. Labour clearly doesn’t understand what happens in the real world.
“It’s the same old Labour, more borrowing, more spending, more taxes and more costs on businesses.”
ENDS
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