Early details of the party’s tax policy show an ‘average’ household with children saving $250 a fortnight. The question of how this will be paid for will be revealed this morning, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

‘Average’ household with children will get up to $250 a fortnight under National’s plan

Both the Herald and The Press have details of the National party’s tax policy this morning. The full plan will be announced by the party at 10.30 this morning. Details seen by the Herald show “how the policy aims to ‘boost’ the incomes of five typical households.” A household earning $120,000 a year with no children will receive up to $100 a fortnight, the Herald reports, while an “average” household with children will get up to $250 a fortnight. A full time worker on $60,000 will get up to $50 a fortnight, and someone who works full time on the minimum wage will get up to $20. A superannuitant couple will get up to $26 a fortnight.

National looks to be dealing to ‘taxation by stealth’

As the Press reports, the package appears likely to be delivered through a mixture of tax cuts, indexation of tax thresholds to take inflation into account and through the Working for Families system. There’s been a steady drumbeat about the indexation of tax thresholds to account for inflation for a while. Some have called it taxation by stealth. Stuff’s Susan Edmunds looked at how much people might save if brackets were adjusted for inflation in February. Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said at the time that if tax brackets were adjusted with inflation, the move would be inflationary. Willis is claiming that the party’s policy will not be inflationary.

Prime Minister calls National ‘desperate’ for trying to find four new taxes

We can undoubtedly expect many questions about how this will be paid for but National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said yesterday that the plan is fully costed and will be funded through a mix of spending cuts and new revenue. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins called National desperate for trying to find four new taxes to pay for the policy. In response to questioning in the House from Luxon yesterday, Hipkins said “I’ll tell the member what’s desperate: spending two years saying that tax cuts are affordable, and now desperately trying to scrabble together four new taxes in order to pay for them.” Hipkins also cited National cutting income taxes and raising GST under John Key in 2010, despite a 2008 campaign promise not to increase GST.

Scrapping tax exemption for churches and charities ruled out

There was speculation yesterday that it might involve scrapping the tax exemption for churches and charities. Willis scotched that idea yesterday but as Toby Manhire writes, there could still be a slight crack in the door for “something narrowly focused on the large, profitable outfits that in many ways behave like any old business in the marketplace.” If you’re eating a Sanitarium cereal this morning you might know that the business is owned by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, who pay no tax. Act’s David Seymour has long called for the closing of this loophole, issuing a statement yesterday about “an archaic and outdated British law classing advancement of religion as a charitable purpose”.