Self-inflicted "poverty"

Nurses are going on strike tomorrow in pursuit of better pay and higher staffing levels. So why isn't the "Labour" government paying them properly? Apparently, they're pleading poverty:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the nurses’ union wanted a 17 per cent pay increase for all nurses, but the Government is strapped for cash.

[...]

Ardern, speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, said the Government was financially constrained due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Firstly, any "financial constraint" the government is suffering is entirely self-inflicted by their refusal to tax the rich fairly. But secondly, its a bit hard to believe Ardern, when her own Finance Minister is gloating about how much money they have. But then, its been clear for a long time that when the government says it has "no money", it has no money for you. Meanwhile, it has plenty of money to subsidise the rich with artificially low tax rates, and plenty of money for subsidising polluting farmers with free water and emissions, and plenty of money for US warmongering. The government has chosen what it wants, and we should hold it accountable for that choice.