Labour’s finance spokesman Grant Robertson says National’s tax plan is a “scam” with an analysis by the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) showing just 3000 households would receive the $250 a fortnight relief touted by National as going to the “average family”.

National’s finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis has bit back, saying the claim was always with the caveat “up to” $250, but admitted the 3000 figure was correct.

She said about 1.4 million New Zealanders would get tax relief of about $30 a fortnight, but there were bigger savings for families with children.

The party explanation came after yesterday campaign chair Chris Bishop refused to answer questions on the topic, only seeking to discredit the origins by pointing out CTU chief economist Craig Renney was a former advisor to Robertson and some of the public relations consultants had also worked with Labour.

National’s tax plan said says the “Back Pocket Boost” would increase after-tax pay for the “squeezed middle, making a family with kids, on the average income of $120,000, up to $250 a fortnight better off, and an average-income child-free household up to $100 a fortnight better off”.

It said the tax relief would come from a combination of adjustments to tax brackets, increases in tax credits for those on “modest incomes”, tax rebates for childcare costs, and increases to Working for Families payments for working families.

The CTU says its analysis of the National Party’s tax plan found just 3000 households, out of a total of 1.63 million nationwide, met the threshold to be $250 a fortnight better off.

Robertson said the CTU analysis showed this was a “scam” and called on National to “front up” with the numbers.

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 “Ninety-nine per cent of Kiwi households won’t get $250 a fortnight despite National’s publicity materials claiming that is what ‘an average-income family with children’ would receive – that’s a lie,” Robertson said.”

“There are 1.6 million households in New Zealand.

“Only 0.18 per cent of them will get the $250 that National’s promotional materials claim an ‘average family’ will get.”

Willis said she rejected Labour’s claim that National had been misleading.

“Let’s not treat New Zealanders like fools,” she said, saying the use of the phrase “up to [$250 a fortnight]” was not difficult to understand.

She said she rejected that the tax package wouldn’t amount to much for most people, saying National had been up front from the start and families with children would benefit the most.

She said the real scam was that in some advertising Labour was claiming its GST off fruit and vegetables policy would see prices reduce the full 15 per cent, when a portion of that will be absorbed by businesses to administer it.

She said it was different to their policy as they had always said “up to”.

Renney told the Herald that National attacking the organisation rather than defending its numbers showed it did not want to engage in the “substance of the debate”.

He said the CTU did a range of analysis, including on Labour policy and from the Treasury.

“We share a lot of data with a lot of people.

“We are not working for the Labour Party we work for workers.”

“Renney said their analysis showed a “vanishingly small” number of households would get the full benefit of its tax plan.

He said this contrasted with the 350,000 beneficiaries who were in for effective cuts adding up to $2 billion collectively over the next four years with National pegging annual increases to inflation rather than keeping up with average wages.

Renney said this was particularly concerning given it also applied to those on disability and sickness benefits and were unable to return to work.

Speaking at Parliament, Robertson pushed back on Bishop’s claims the CTU was just trying to help Labour and engaged in “gutter politics”.

The CTU represented 350,000 workers, Robertson said.

Regardless of where the numbers came from, National needed to “front up”.

Robertson also pushed back at Bishop’s claim Labour was engaged in “gutter politics”, saying the National MP had not yet apologised for claiming Labour leader Chris Hipkins had “lied” when stating Robertson had been offered as a substitute for the now-canned Press leaders’ debate.

Hipkins had to pull out of the debate on Tuesday due to Covid-19.

The debate will now take place with leaders of the minor parties next Tuesday, after Luxon said he could not find time to reschedule.