A perfect line of attack from the opposition. 6 days ago the NZ Herald ran a story with the head line:

Tax take falling below forecast, Treasury warns

Two-thirds or so of the way through the Government’s financial year the tax take is $1.1 billion below forecast and the Treasury warns half of that shortfall is not likely to be caught up by the end of the year.

It finished with:

Labour finance spokesman David Parker said: “Somehow Bill English is presiding over a growing economy but not getting the tax revenue that should be coming with it. He needs to explain himself.”

Now I am not suggesting that Treasury are stupid or wrong, or that they have made grave errors in their projections. I can only imagine how difficult it is to project tax takes for a whole year for a country. However, if you have just been attacked by the opposition about Treasury projections being missed, do you think it would a good idea to maybe stay away from relying on those their projections for a little while? Apparently the National Party doesn’t. They released this graphic today:

I am sure that we will see the opposition using the source of these figures as a way to attack this claim. If they do, I have no sympathy for National, as they brought the attack on themselves.