Opinion: This whole selective ‘I’m not going to play the rule-in/rule-out game’ bit that the Prime Minister’s regularly deploying has got to stop.
The smokescreen has become suffocating.
It’s fine for Chris Hipkins to not announce the entire Budget or policy manifesto every time he speaks to journalists. I get that.
But to refuse to be drawn on nearly everything because it’s now interpreted as the rule-in/rule-out game is going to have a very limited lifespan.
And based on the flurry of texts you sent me after our interview with the PM yesterday, you have short shrift for it too.
My ears pricked up when Hipkins said this…
"In terms of indexation of income tax brackets that is a very significant cost for a relatively modest return in terms of what people will get out of that," said the PM on Tuesday.
Huh... tax cuts by way of indexation of income tax brackets - like National’s policy - are not good bang for buck.
Interesting, given Labour had just announced it was indexing super and benefits to inflation, making income and wages just about the only thing not keeping up with inflation.
Here’s a good starting point for a fulsome chat about tax I thought to myself... I thought wrong.
I asked Hipkins if he was saying it’s too expensive to index income tax brackets...
"No I'm just saying the announcement we made yesterday is the thing that will make the biggest difference here and now," said Hipkins.
"I’m not going to tell you the tax policy of the government heading into the budget particularly when the budget hasn’t even gone to cabinet yet…"
I wasn't asking for the policy or specifics of it, I was asking if there is enough money for a policy like it.
"As I indicated not going to give you the budget here and now," Hipkins repeated.
I wasn't asking for the budget… Hipkins was telling us what other things are affordable and which are not. I simply wanted to know if tax cuts are affordable.
"I love the fact you don’t want the budget, you just want to know what’s in it," the PM said.
I mean, learning the contents of the Budget before it’s gone to cabinet would be dreamy - but no, that’s not what I was after.
The Prime Minister made a very clear statement and then refused to back it up or be drawn on it.
I’d expect that kind of thing from a minister beholden to their Prime Minister and Cabinet but Chris Hipkins isn’t just a minister anymore.
What he says goes. And if the Prime Minister steps up to the mic and makes a bold statement like saying tax cuts through indexation are a very significant cost for modest returns... He’s got to be able to back that up.
