Kerre Woodham: Labour's plan to remove GST from fruit and veges a desperate plan to win votes

I was about to write my opener this morning on Labour's widely anticipated move to announce the removal of GST on fruit and veg, when an ACT party press release landed in my inbox and I thought David Seymour said it best: “If Labour announces a policy to remove GST from fruit and vegetables, that's not a sign they want to address the cost of living. It's a sign of a truly desperate political party willing to throw any semblance of sensible policy making out the window to snare some votes.”

Absolutely right. I thought that Labour had shown desperation when both Kelvin Davis and Chris Hipkins stood there and said that they would build youth prisons.

Neither of them believes in that at all. They are vehemently opposed to locking anybody up, far less kids. But no, quite willing to make an announcement and a statement on that if it's going to get them some middle ground voters and the same is true with the removal of GST from fruit and veg.

And probably, if somebody phoned me out of the blue and said would you like to see GST removed off fruit and veg Kerre? I'd say, yes, I would. But there's no point to it. It's a slippery slope as well, to other products that people need. Why not just take the GST off power in winter? Why not take the GST off fuel so you can fill up the car and drive to work.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Kerre McIvor, is a journalist, radio presenter, author and columnist. Currently hosts the Kerre Woodham mornings show on Newstalk ZB where this article was sourced