Kiwis in the "squeezed middle" that National says its tax plan will help have given it a mixed review saying there isn't much in it for them.
The party revealed its $14.6 billion tax relief plan on Wednesday, saying it will be funded by reprioritising spending and introducing targeted revenue measures like a new foreign buyer tax on some houses.
National says an "average household" with children with an income of $120,000 would be better off by up to $250 per fortnight, while an average household with no children will get up to $100 per fortnight and a full-time minimum-wage earner will get up to $20 per fortnight. A superannuitant couple will get up to $26 more per fortnight, the party says.
Kiwi mum-of-four Ria Apiata from Rotorua told AM on Thursday the policy would only see each of her family members save about $7 per week, which wouldn't go very far.
She told AM co-host Ryan Bridge while her family would get some savings, National taking away half-price public transport fares means transport costs would increase.
"The first thing is I couldn't find my family on the table… with the average household being 2.7 [people], I've got a household of six with my husband, myself, four children and I looked at it and if it gives us say $40 extra a week. I've got to distribute that across my team at home and you're looking at under $7 each a week," she said.
"Is that helpful? First looking at it, yes it is, at the same time, is it a game changer? That's yet to be seen and already I can see the plan will be removing the subsidies on public transport. So with my children catching the bus and trains a lot, I think that's going to be a net loss for us is my first thought."
Belinda Diamantis, who was appearing alongside Apiata on AM, described herself as a single 51-year-old small business owner who recently just bought her first home.
Diamantis, who owns a nail salon in Paraparaumu called Nail Envy, said while there are a "lot of positives" in National's plan, she believes she fits into a category that's been forgotten and won't see any benefits.
"I feel that once again having no children, being single and being a very low-wage earner, there's really nothing in it for me," she said.
"I think I qualify for $4 a week, once again I just feel I'm nowhere included in that package."
Diamantis told AM she is really struggling with the cost of living crisis as she's currently on a mortgage rate of 9.85 percent and has been forced to get a second job.
"I'm six years into my business. I'm sort of at the point now where I either throw the towel in and go and get full-time work just to make the mortgage or I could possibly have to sell my house," she said.
"So again, there are lots of positives that National are offering, but I don't feel I benefit from any of them, to be honest, and having no children, there are two of those four packages that they're talking about that I don't benefit from and being a low wage earner as well."
Is National's plan enough to swing their vote?
Apiata, who describes herself as a swing voter, told AM National's plan hasn't convinced her to give the party her vote.
She said she still wants to understand how National's plan will help New Zealand and her family.
"I'm still listening. Broadly in the mid-term, if everything keeps going up, cost of living, inflation, that $7 a week extra isn't going to mean much at all in the grand scheme of things," Apiata said.
Diamantis, who describes herself as usually voting National, told AM her business doesn't earn a lot of income.
"It's not to say I'm not going to give them my party vote because I think I benefit as a small business from being a National voter," she said.
"I'm a nail technician… I average about $68,000 a year so I do fall into that GST bracket, so for anything over $60,000 I pay GST on. However, I pay GST on the whole $68,000, not just the $8,000 I'm over the threshold.
"So it's a double-edged sword. I want to work more, make more income so I can pay my $800 mortgage, but then I want to bring my income down under the $60,000 threshold so I don't have to pay a GST."
While Diamantis is critical of National's tax plan, it isn't good news for Chris Hipkins and his Labour Party.
"Labour and National really don't offer anything for me as a small business owner, as a single woman, as a woman who doesn't have children as well there's nothing in it for me and it's disappointing," she said.
Apiata said her message to politicians is to help people like her and Diamantis who don't really fall into any of National's categories on its tax plan.
"I want to hear specifics, more tangibles for families like Belinda and myself we're not quite the average we sit outside the average, so how do we fit into the picture and what will that look like because if we're just moving costs around what's that actually going to mean for us," she said.
"I can already see the correlation there between public transport and what I talked about the tax cuts. Can we see some specific examples of how particularly for Māori and Pacific families with more children what that looks like for us?"
Watch the full interview Ria Apiata and Belinda Diamantis in the video above.
