Justice

Much of the post-Budget debate has been focused on whether John Key and Bill English’s prescription for the country’s finances will increase or decrease the gap between rich and poor.

Despite assuring us that he cares about inequality, Mr English reckons the gap will stay about the same. But many – including the Green Party – disagree, arguing that the combination of a GST increase that hits low-income families proportionately hardest and a tax cut that delivers the most benefit to those on high incomes will certainly widen the income chasm.

This is important, because New Zealand is one of the most unequal countries in the developed world, according to both the OECD and the UN.

It’s also important because there’s very strong evidence to suggest that the bigger the gap between rich and poor, the worse off we are in all income brackets. The starkest example of this is life expectancy: even someone in the highest income bracket in a country with a high degree of inequality can expect to die earlier than their counterpart in a more equal society.