National Party leader Christopher Luxon has laid out his plan to tackle inflation on Breakfast this morning.
It comes as the latest inflation figures are set to be released later today.
"The first thing to acknowledge is just how incredibly difficult it is with a high inflation, high cost of living environment at the moment...whether the inflation number goes slightly up or slightly down, the reality is, it's going to be very high and very difficult for people this year," Luxon said.
"The government needs a proper plan to actually fight inflation because it's causing so much pain and suffering."
He said National would avoid passing costs on to businesses "that lead to higher prices and more inflation", would widen immigration settings to grow the economy, and would refocus government spending.
"The other thing that we would say is, look, we think that the tax thresholds that people have, and we pay our income tax by, need to be lifted by the amount of inflation that they're experiencing," Luxon said.
"It's just a really principled and practical thing, it's not deeply ideological.
"The last thing we would do is say, look, the Reserve Bank has been given by Grant Robertson a dual mandate...around employment and also around fighting inflation, and we just really want that Reserve Bank single-mindedly focused on fighting inflation."
When pressed on whether the changes would actually produce a fix any time soon, Luxon said they address the underlying causes.
He also criticised last year's cost of living payment to eligible Kiwis.
"It wasn't the right solution...I think indexation of tax thresholds was a much better idea."
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