Rich and poor gap widening, says Anderton

Press, 6 April 1989, Page 6

Rich and poor gap widening, says Anderton

PA Wellington The Labour member of Parliament for Sydenham, Mr Jim Anderton, says the reality of “crass inequality” is staring New Zealand in the face and the Government must lead the economic recovery.

The latest real disposable income figures from the Statistics Department made public on Tuesday show that the top 20 per cent of income earners have become 11 times better off than the bottom 20 per cent since the October tax changes.

Mr Anderton said the situation was a dramatic illustration of the widening gap between the rich and poor in New Zealand. The reality was worse than the figures showed because they did not include the unemployed or beneficiaries. “This means that the gap is even wider than it appears.”

Mr Anderton has also criticised as “rubbish” the comments of the former Minister of Finance, Mr Roger Douglas, who has been a frequent critic of Government economic policy since his sacking in

December. “To hear Roger Douglas telling us that this (policy) is all wrong when he introduced a 10 per cent GST in the first place, plus unbalanced economic and monetary policies which have led to mass unemployment, would be

simply bizarre if it were not so pathetic,” Mr Anderton said. "The reality of crass inequality is now staring us in the face and should not be ignored or explained away with words when urgent action is necessary.” Mr Anderton said the rich should be taxed more and the poor less. Employment opportunities had to be created before more people were made unemployed. New Zealand could not afford to reduce the level of the Government’s involvement in the economy at the time of a deep recession. The Government had to lead the economic recovery otherwise it would not occur or take so long “that the economy would need intensive care instead of a minor operation,” said Mr Anderton.