The Green Party says working families are effectively paying for the rebuilding of Christchurch.
The Government says changes to Working for Families and KiwiSaver will help it return the books to surplus more quickly and help pay for the rebuild of the earthquake-damaged city.
But Greens co-leader Russel Norman says the Government did not have the courage to introduce new revenue measures that would have avoided spending cuts.
He says middle-income New Zealanders are already under a lot of pressure but the Government is taking back its tax cuts through the changes to Working for Families and KiwiSaver.
"It's quite perverse that it will be working families that end up having to pay for the Christchurch rebuild," Dr Norman told Parliament. "That's effectively where some of the savings are coming from."
Dr Norman says most voters would support a temporary levy to pay for the rebuilding of Christchurch.
