Abortion election issue?

Press, 14 March 1978, Page 2

Abortion election issue?

Abortion law reform had been a hotly debated issue in the Rangitikei byelection but whether it would still be a “live” issue at the General Election later this year was hard to determine, said the president of the National Party (Mr G. A. Chapman) in Christchurch yesterday. Although there had been a lot of debate in Rangitikei, it was very hard to discern whether the issue had affected voting and, if so, in what way, he said.

“It is really far too early to tell if abortion will be a major issue in the General Election: it very well could be, but leadership and the state of the economy will probably be the major issues,’’ Mr Chapman said.

Unemployment, industrial relations, the balance of payments, internal deficits, and taxation all should be considered under the umbrella of ‘The state of the economy,” he said. Can the electorate expect adjustments to the taxation system? Mr Chapman said that “ce.tainly there were many remits on taxation, particularly in respect of overtime taxation and the single-income family, adopted at the last National Party conference, and it is only reasonable to assume that the policy committee is studying these very closely.” But the Government had already made a major concession in the 5 per cent reduction in personal in-

come tax which applied since February; 1, and taxation levels depended entirely on the commitments on Government spending, Mr Chapman said. “Every government wishes to make tax concessions, particularly those which encourage extra production, but when considering overtime it becomes very complicated,” he said. “We have so many seifemployed people in New Zealand — farmers, small 'businessmen, shopkeepers, taxi proprietors, and so on —that it makes it a very complicated issue. How do you encourage the wage earner to work overtime without penalising the selfemployed worker who works just as long?’’ he said.