Maritime Union opposes any GST increase

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and says any rises in GST would hurt work­ers.

Mari­time Uni­on Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Joe Fleet­wood says a pro­posed rise of GST to 15% sug­ges­ted this after­noon by the Prime Min­is­ter would be bad for the major­ity of New Zeal­anders.

He says that GST hits ordin­ary work­ers hard, and any increase would be used to sub­sid­ize income tax cuts for the wealthy.

“Any rise in GST will cre­ate more inequal­ity, a big­ger gap in wealth and will hurt the grow­ing num­ber of work­ing poor in New Zea­l­and trapped in low income and cas­u­al jobs.”

Mr Fleet­wood says there seems to be little of sub­stance in the Prime Min­ister­’s eco­nom­ic state­ment about the ser­i­ous increase in the num­ber of unem­ployed people, espe­cially young people.

ENDS

For more inform­a­tion, con­tact Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Joe Fleet­wood on 021364649