TV3 survey finds people are worse off since the GST hike

Last year both PM John Key and Finance Minister Bill English claimed no-one would be worse off because of the GST increase that took effect on 1 October as they were reducing income tax rates a smidgen to compensate.

The Campbell Live program on TV3 has followed a Hawkes Bay family since September and found that the same basket of groceries last September which cost $123 then costs $148 now, a $25 or 20.4% increase.  And that is of course only a part of their regular spending needs.  Bill's income tax reduction at the same time gave them an extra $10 a week.  Better off? Yeah right.  The only people who are likely to be better off now than they were are those at the top of the income scale.
This doesn't of course mean that they are still buying those items.  If things that you buy went up 20% in the space of 8 months would you keep buying them all if you could avoid it?  Of course not.  Is that bad news for the retailers of those items? Of course.
No surprise that Key refused to appear on the program.