Cam Slater: You Can’t Trust Labour on Tax

Labour’s botched tax grab on Kiwi savers was the fastest reverse ferret ever seen in modern politics. It was so fast that the Taxpayers’ Union barely had time to beg for money to oppose it. Labour polls every night during the working week. The news broke on Wednesday night about their sneaky, slimy, secret and untrustworthy tax grab; and they must have received absolutely parlous polling information that saw them quickly back down and reverse their position. But the underlying belief amongst voters is that you can’t trust Labour on tax.

Bryce Edwards: Labour’s tax U-turn paints a picture of a dysfunctional Government

Will Labour’s GST U-turn do the Government much damage? Probably not – it’s insignificant in the greater scheme of things. Most likely, the flip-flop will soon be forgotten. What’s more, the details of the ill-fated tax proposal are almost too technocratic to even comprehend or care about.

The problem for Labour, however, is that this latest saga reinforces a number of narratives building up about the Government.