Nats aim tax plan at women voters

Press, 30 July 1985, Page 3

Nats aim tax plan at women voters

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

National will look hard at introducing tax deductability for child care, according to the Opposition spokesman on taxation, Mr Michael Cox. He also promised work on income splitting in an obvious appeal to women who comprised, he said, 52 per cent of the electorate. The appeal went down well with party delegates and made Mr Cox a conference favourite. His pitch on the goods and services tax was also well received. He said there

had to be a better way to reduce the income tax burden and plumped for a reconstituted, broadened and vastly simpler wholesale sales tax. Mr Cox is on record as supporting Britain’s GST equivalent — the value added tax — but said that he had now changed his mind. Research had proved that the advantages of VAT were less than had been immediately apparent and the problems much greater. Answering a question from the floor, Mr Cox indicated that National

would probably remove prescription charges. “We are not about to tax the sick,” he said, then immediately qualified this by adding that he had not finalised his position. But he denied delegates the assurance they really wanted — that he would abolish the fringe benefits tax. A remit seeking a commitment to abolition had been passed by a conference committee the day before and announced that morning. Mr Cox, however, promised only to remove the worst anomalies.