Ordinary taxpayers to suffer with job cuts

new-zealand-labour-party

Wed Apr 22 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Ordinary taxpayers to suffer with job cuts

Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 2:57 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

It is ordinary taxpayers who will suffer along with affected workers because of the National Government’s decision to make 250 Inland Revenue Department workers unemployed, Labour State Services Spokesperson Grant Robertson said.

“Workers at Government agencies and their families are paying the price for the Government’s determination to make arbitrary and poorly thought-out cuts to the public service.

“It is inevitable that the public will notice a reduction in service with these job cuts.

“The Government recently made changes to Kiwisaver, student loans and personal tax. It is hard to see how they will keep with changes while cutting staff.

“The IRD will play an important role in helping small business manage their tax issues during this recession. It is ridiculous to be cutting staff when these services are so urgently needed.

“John Key repeatedly promised that his Government would cap and not cut the public service, but the hundreds of staff members and their families from across multiple government agencies who have lost their jobs know what a cruel hoax this was by the Prime Minister.

“John Key promised tax cuts, but what he never told the public was that he would be making hundreds of people from government agencies unemployed in order to pay for them.

“So far the Tertiary Education Commission, Ministry for Environment, Ministry of Health, National Library, State Services Commission, and Ministry of Social Development, have either all cut jobs or signalled their intention too. Clearly this makes a mockery of the ‘cap not cut’ claim.”

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“IRD is asking for volunteers to take redundancy, but given the difficulties those who are made redundant will face in finding new employment, it is difficult to see why many people would sign up to this.

“In any case cutting this many staff will put immense pressure on those who remain and in turn see a reduction in the quality of services provided to the public,” Grant Robertson said.

ENDS

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