Gradually the new National Party led by Luxon and Willis is beginning to show its colours. It is not a pretty sight. Everything those two do screams beware! They have spent a few months ingratiating themselves to the country. “Look at us,” they have said. “Nothing to hide here. We are good, common, home-spun folk – just like all of you. New Zealand can trust a National Party with the Luxon/Willis team in charge.”

I am no great scholar of religion but the Luxon/Willis story is a façade of biblical proportions. Willis should know that from her mornings in the Marsden School chapel. Without question the most obvious biblical verse is, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

And gradually their mouths are beginning to speak. Their true, nasty, greedy, grasping, rapacious, avaricious selves are being exposed. For example, Revenue Minister, David Parker has just announced that the Government is gathering information on the tax paid by New Zealand’s wealthiest people. The idea is to make sure that everyone is paying their fair share. The investigation is needed because recent Household Economic Survey information suggests “top end” earners may be getting away with blue murder.

 Parker said,” “What’s hidden is that the tax rate for middle-income Kiwis is generally higher than it is for their wealthier co-citizens. Indeed, some of their wealthier Kiwi compatriots pay very low rates of tax on most of their income.”

No one in New Zealand should mind the government checking that out. In fact, if the rich are ripping the country off, it’s the Government’s job to find out and bring them into line. Except that is not the way Luxon sees it. He is criticising the Government’s investigation, saying New Zealand already has a fair, progressive tax code. He even went as far as to say, “it’s important that wealthy people pay their fair share.”

Not that Luxon believes a word he says. Not when the first thing his government would do is abolish the 39% tax rate that only Luxon, Willis, Hosking and a few other New Zealanders pay. If the Government’s investigation is not needed because the tax rates are so fair, if it is important that wealthy people pay their fair share, why is National’s first policy statement aimed at changing the tax rate to benefit the rich?

And National’s tax changes are for the benefit of the rich. The Luxon/Willis cabal are prepared to use the power of government to benefit themselves, to line their own pockets. For example, if Luxon’s tax changes were applied, New Zealanders earning $55,000 would save about $800 a year. But someone earning $45,000 would only get an additional $112 a year. Luxon, Willis, Hosking and their mates would get an $18,000 cut in tax.

“Fair” according to the Luxon/National way of thinking means he’s worth 160 times more than the average New Zealander. The new National Party’s idea of a fair tax change would see the average New Zealander eat for three days while Luxon and Willis could eat like kings for a year. How close is that to Marie-Antoinette’s, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (“Let them eat cake”). One can only hope Luxon’s tax plan becomes a similar symbol of decadence – because it is.

I’ve noticed this before about Luxon. His mind is like Villa Pisani, considered the most difficult maze in the world, Even Napoleon is said to have been trumped by this labyrinth. Perhaps there are readers who do not believe Luxon has a jumbled mind. How else could we explain this series of quotes from his interview with Jack Tame about the Government’s investigation.

“My big take away is very clear”

“The reason is very simple”

Have you got that? The tax problem is “clear” and “simple”. BUT ———

“I am not really sure where it’s going”

“It still wasn’t very clear”

Confused? I am. It is “clear”. It is “simple”, but it isn’t “clear” and Luxon doesn’t know “where it’s going”. Wow, what a tangled web the stupid can weave. In this case, mind numbingly stupid.  

Fortunately, the maths next year is simpler than tax. Luxon gets one vote and so do the New Zealanders on $45,000. But I bet Luxon and certainly Willis wish they could change that. I hope New Zealanders on $45,000 remember that Luxon wants $18,000 for himself while offering them $112. And that is why Parker’s investigation is necessary. The Luxon/Willis National Party can’t be trusted.    

“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”.