Taxpayers' Union lends voice to international coalition

Today the Taxpayers’ Union has joined a large international coalition of taxpayer groups with the intention of opposing supranational taxation schemes, including ‘harmonising’ tax rates across borders and levying taxes on behalf of international bodies. The 22 signatories represent groups from 15 different counties.

International efforts to subject New Zealanders to a taxes on sugar, consumer products and even financial transactions, are deeply concerning. We’ve joined forces with our overseas equivalents to highlight these developments.

International taxes are potentially very problematic – they will tend to come on top of national taxes, the control will be small, opening the schemes up for potential corruption. Without voters to hold these policymakers accountable, the taxes will be easy to increase once they are in place.

The situation has become urgent in connection with the World Health Organization (WHO) meeting in Moscow starting today. The scope of the WHO meeting is to discuss raising excise taxes and to recommended uniform excise tax rates.

One of the points made in the letter is the value of competition by countries:

Tax Competition, by contrast, is a natural dynamic that allows people to move economic resources from high tax areas to low tax areas. Other regions must adjust, or risk depriving their own peoples of opportunities to prosper. This maximizes economic efficiency and allows consumers to pay the best price for the highest quality.

A copy of the letter and list of signatories can be viewed here.