So many of you have been reaching out to me recently about the cost of living crisis, about your concerns about wasteful government spending and about the future of our city’s infrastructure, particularly our water services.
I want you all to know the entire National Caucus are listening and will hold the Government to account for the increased struggles you and your households are having, whether at the pump, in the supermarket aisles, or in the fight to keep our Three Waters local and out of the hands of central government.
Simply put, it’s not good enough that the Government has let inflation and business confidence get so bad the price of a single cauliflower and a block of cheese is now nearing a week’s food budget for an elderly pensioner, a meal that once was considered the staple of economical living. This is shameful.
It’s a ridiculous situation where someone on the average wage has a marginal tax rate of 33 percent and it gets even worse when hard working Kiwis on the minimum wage only have to work a 44-hour week to face a marginal tax rate of 30 cents on the dollar.
This together with increased rents, petrol price hikes, and bracket creep on your hard-earned taxes moving people into yet higher tax bands, it is no wonder we have a cost of living crisis in New Zealand.
National has a plan to end this unacceptable situation and provide some welcome relief to New Zealanders who are living paycheck to paycheck and barely making ends meet while Covid-19 continues to make it incredibly difficult for people to work and live their lives.
We’ve called on the Government to deliver immediate tax relief by adjusting tax brackets to account for this crisis. Let’s hope they listen.
This month, it is important for me to acknowledge the Muslim community as they begin their preparations for the month of Ramadan. This time of spiritual reflection and contemplation is even more poignant during the ongoing Covid-19 season with devotees unable to travel on their Hajj journeys or to see friends and family overseas in the cultural homelands. Please know that my thoughts are with those of you who will be using the month of Ramadan to remember loved ones lost over the past year and, Covid willing, I look forward to sharing an Iftar meal with you in the coming weeks.
I also want to acknowledge the many Indian, Hindu and South East Asian communities around our city who would usually have been celebrating the amazing Festival of Colour, Holi, right now. Most celebrations have had to be cancelled or scaled down into smaller family and friends affairs due to the Covid-19 situation.
I always enjoy the spirit of the Holi Festival with the laughter and brightness the occasion gives for young and old alike to throw coloured powders at each other (with affection of course), get out on a ‘colour run’ and in general, to spend time with one another in the spirit of light-heartedness and fun. I look forward to enjoying Holi again next year when hopefully by then, we won’t have the restrictions we do now and hope to see some of you there.
Until next time... (MELISSA LEE MP)
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