Party leader Peter Dunne, who is Minister of Revenue, told the party's annual conference in Auckland today United Future voted for the tax cuts because they were better than no cuts at all.
"Our policy goes further and delivers more," he said.
United Future wants:
* Income up to $12,000 taxed at 10 percent;
* Income between $12,001 and $38,000 taxed at 20 percent; and
* Income above $38,000 taxed at 30 percent.
The tax levels and the thresholds in the policy are significantly different to existing rules, and there is no top tax rate for high income earners such as the 39 percent level for income over $60,000.
Mr Dunne said his party would also push for:
* Income splitting for parents with dependent children;
* Honoraria for volunteers up to $1000 to be tax free; and
* Gift duty to be abolished.
"We have carefully costed the impact of these policies and in a full year they would cost $4.5 billion," Mr Dunne said.
"We think this tax policy is affordable, simple and fair.
"It strikes the right balance between letting Kiwis keep more of their own money and providing the Government with enough revenue to carry out its necessary work without making cuts in government spending on social services and family assistance."
Income splitting has been a United Future policy for several years.
It allows a family with a single income earner to split it between spouses for tax purposes, which means paying less tax because the thresholds are lower.
The Government isn't keen on the idea and says it would mainly benefit wealthy families.
Mr Dunne's calculations show that a family on $45,000 a year would get a tax cut of $45 a fortnight ($33 a fortnight on October 1 through the Government's tax cuts) and $87 a fortnight if income splitting was included.
A family on $80,000 a year would get a tax cut of $130 a fortnight ($54 a fortnight on October 1 under the Government's tax cuts) and $191 a fortnight if income splitting was included.
