Fair share for all, says Values

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 3

Fair share for all, says Values

The Values Party gave its economic policy for this year’s General Election in Christchurch yesterday.

The party says its policy is designed to adjust the economy so that the environment and resources are conserved and so that work, wealth, and power are shared fairly. It says that the Government should remove “the vast array of subsidies, regulations, and so-called incentives,” which at present stop New Zealanders seeing the true environmental and economic costs of their decisions. It wants more emphasis on longterm planning, so that better decisions can be made.

It plans to extend the powers of Planning Tribunals to consider the economic impact of projects, as well as the social and environmental impact. They would be able to review the spending of Government departments and only Parliament would have the power to overturn their decisions. Values also called for a guaranteed minimum income for all households and says it would remove discincentives for part-time work. It would reduce tax avoidance and tax evasion by reducing the level of income tax, eliminating tax concessions, and introducing capital gains and excess wealth taxes.