[comment caption=Reckless or bold? What do you think of National's spending plans?]Prime Minister Helen Clark says a National government would be "reckless" with the economy after announcements it would fast track tax cuts and borrow for roads.
National leader John Key promised to his party's annual conference at the weekend to spend an extra $5 billion on infrastructure by 2014 and to bring forward a second round of tax cuts to April next year.
A third would be delivered in April 2010.
He said National would not borrow for its bigger, faster tax cuts, but would push Crown debt out from 20 percent of GDP to 22 percent to fund its infrastructure plan.
But Miss Clark said it was impossible to separate the two and National's plans to borrow more at a time of international economic uncertainty amounted to gambling with the economy.
Road, school and hospital building was already going "full tilt" and National's plan was similar to former prime minister Sir Robert Muldoon's debt-ridden "Think Big" programme, she said on TVNZ's Agenda programme.
Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the increased debt could do "serious damage" to New Zealand's reputation as an investment destination.
It would also come as the cost of borrowing was rising due to the international credit crunch.
He accused National of using "credit card economics" to cover for the "massive hole" in its spending plans.
But Mr Key said the borrowing would be solely for infrastructure and even with the increase, New Zealand's debt to GDP levels would be below most other developed countries.
National would be "conservative" managers of the economy.
National's plan includes spending up to $500 million more than Labour on key infrastructure projects.
Taking into account its six year $1.5 billion broadband plan, it would spend about $5 billion extra on infrastructure by 2014.
But Mr Key said the extra spending would boost growth in the long term.
"National believes building better infrastructure is essential to fuelling higher levels of non-inflationary economic growth for years to come."
Mr Key said National would not borrow for its tax cuts and signalled cuts in some areas were likely to help pay for them.
They included "modest" changes to KiwiSaver and the shape of the second and third rounds of Labour's promised tax cuts.
"We've made some choices, we've got some priorities," he told reporters.
"New Zealanders will have to assess the relative merits of what we are supporting and what we are not."
Mr Key refused to say if average wage earners could expect a $50 a week tax cut under National -- a figure he mentioned in interviews ahead of this year's budget -- with the details being kept under wraps until the election campaign.
