Labour puts family costs at $6,302 a year as parties trade budget claims

Labour says a typical family with two children is paying $6,302 more a year under the Government.

The figure comes from an 8-page attack document titled "the cost of Luxon". According to reporting published on 12 October, it was styled in National's campaign colours and style. It formed the centrepiece of Labour's latest counter-attack on costs.

Labour Campaign Chair Kieran McAnulty said a typical family with two kids is paying $6,302 more a year just to get by. RNZ Labour put that at more than $120 a week in higher prices for food, petrol, power, rates, healthcare and getting kids to school. The document itself said a typical family with two children could be paying almost $6,000 extra a year compared with 2023.

Labour's detailed breakdown lists power at $404, GP visits at $50, petrol at $1,490, rates at $1,001, food at $1,226, kids' public transport at $1,558, and other fees and levies at $128. Labour claimed National had introduced or increased more than 30 fees and levies since 2023. It said the $128 line covers those other fees and levies.

National rejected the framing. According to the same reporting, National claimed Labour's "hidden bill" of unfunded promises had reached $18.8 billion and would cost households more than $2,000 each year. In a separate statement on 1 October, National claimed Labour's plans would require the average Kiwi household to pay $2,263 per year in additional tax. National

The exchange is part of a wider Labour campaign on living costs and public sector pay ahead of Election 2026. On 11 October Labour announced a policy to cut back-to-school costs for families, starting with cheaper school uniforms and more choice about where parents buy them. Labour Labour has also pledged to pay public service workers and contractors at least the living wage, as reported on 7 October. That pledge applies to direct employees and contracted staff working in the public service. NZ Herald

Labour made similar cost-of-living claims earlier. In May 2025 Labour claimed the FamilyBoost scheme had cost $62 million to date, including $14 million in administration costs. In July 2025, in a release titled 'Luxon's cost of living promise in tatters', Labour claimed National had promised $150 a fortnight to 21,000 families but only 153 received the full amount. In May 2025, in a release titled 'National failing on the cost of living', Labour claimed 61,000 families will be worse off by an average of $43 per fortnight. On the economy, Labour claimed in September 2025 that 20,000 people have lost jobs in construction since National took office.

The broader context here is that the campaign is now as much about budget maths as individual policies. Labour is pricing the Government's record household by household, like adding up a weekly budget line by line. National is pricing Labour's programme as one total. Both methods raise questions Press Gallery regulars will know well. Household costings depend on who counts as typical, which starting year is used, and which price rises are counted as government decisions. Tallies of hidden bills depend on which promises are counted, over what forecast period, and what tax rise would pay for them. Neither set of numbers settles those calls. They set the questions for the Treasury, independent economists, and the leaders' debates to test.