Collins announces policy to deal with Covid crisis
The National Party has produced an alternative Covid-19 economic plan that includes a boost to the wage subsidy and tax cuts for small businesses.
The plan includes the ‘‘milestone’’ of ending lockdown restrictions when 85 to 90 per cent vaccination of the eligible population is reached, or by December 1. Leader
Judith Collins, launching the policy document in Wellington yesterday morning, said the party’s plan would
‘‘move beyond lockdowns, internal borders and alert level rules that no longer makes sense’’.
Under the plan, National said any region with a 70 per cent full vaccination rate and no Covid-19 cases would be moved to alert level 1 immediately. Businesses would be allowed to operate ‘‘as normal’’ if all of their staff were fully vaccinated.
And businesses could operate without capacity limits if they chose to require proof of vaccination status upon entry. A temporary tax rate of 17.5 per cent would be provided to businesses with fewer than 19 employees and a maximum taxable income of $70,000, for the coming two financial years. The current rate for most companies is 28 per cent.
Tax obligations could also be extended across the coming two years without penalty for businesses that suffer a ‘‘significant loss of revenue’’.
The threshold for the tax write off for new assets, such as equipment, machinery, hardware or software, would also be substantially hiked from $5000 to $150,000 for the coming two years, and then reinstated at $5000.
The wage subsidy would be paid out at alert level 2. Businesses would be able to claim it for a 30 per cent revenue loss (instead of
a 40 per cent revenue loss) after receiving the payments for eight weeks, and the payments would increase from $600 to $800 per full time worker.
A marginal tax cut would also be provided to all workers, as the 10.5 per cent income tax rate threshold would be lifted from $14,000 to $17,000 for the coming two years.
For fully vaccinated adults, a $100 voucher would be provided to spend on hospitality, accommodation, and tourism, in the coming six months. A hospitality business could also extend their outdoor seating to public spaces for the coming six months.
The Opposition’s policy announcement has no bearing on the Government’s policies.