The squeezed middle are paying the price for Labour's economic mismanagement. If you are on the average wage of $72,000 or higher, you get nothing from this Budget aside from cheap bus fares for three months—if you happen to use the bus—and slightly less expensive petrol for a few weeks. Meantime, sneakily, subtly, the Government keeps taking more and more tax, using inflation to push more of people's income into higher tax brackets. That's why this Budget shows the highest ever tax take in New Zealand history. Grant Robertson is raking it in. He is the most rapacious tax collector in New Zealand's history. There's never enough tax for him and he always wants more. 