Salient. An organ of student opinion at Victoria University, Wellington. Vol. 23, No. 9. Wednesday, November 9, 1960
The Voter Pays
The Voter Pays
Returning for a moment to my argument that the elector carries his fate in his own hands, let me set out quite simply a few truths that are widely known but all too rarely referred to.
- * Election promises are not paid for by the parties that make them.
- * If, and when, they are honoured, their cost must be met from the funds of Government, and
- * A government can get the funds it needs in one or more of three ways only. Since it can't rely upon magic, it must: —
Go to its Reserve Bank and, perhaps, print what it needs, or
Borrow what it requires by raising loans locally or overseas, or
Resort to the time honoured practice of squeezing it from its already overloaded taxpayers.
On its election to office in November. 1957, the Labour Party found it necessary to make use of all three methods because not one of them by itself was sufficient to pay for the lavish promises it had made to win its way to power. It has been said that the price we were invited to pay for a Labour Government worked out at about £45 or £60 millions—a tax rebate of up to £100, extra family allowance, increased Social Security benefits, and the capitalisation of the child allowance. A very tidy bid in the way of a temptation. And it worked! Of course, the bill came in a few months later, and what a bill. But it made Labour happy, very happy indeed.