Back to the Future Fund: Labour’s latest plan to pick winners with your money

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming Labour’s newfound interest in economic growth, while warning that its proposed “New Zealand Future Fund” looks more like a trip back to the 1970s than a plan for the future.

Taxpayers' Union spokesperson Tory Relf said:

“Economic growth isn’t everything, but it’s almost everything when it comes to improving living standards, life expectancy, happiness, and even environmental outcomes. Only growth allows New Zealand to do more with less.”

“Labour are finally talking about growth - that’s progress. But their solution is a taxpayer-funded investment fund run by politicians and bureaucrats pretending to be venture capitalists. If government-backed venture funds worked, North Korea would be Silicon Valley by now.”

“Why would Labour deliberately choose to invest in assets with sub-par returns? If they’re serious about building national wealth, they should stop scaring investors away with constant talk of capital gains and wealth taxes.”

“Recycling state-owned assets to free up capital makes sense. Gambling with taxpayers’ money on politically chosen projects does not. The Super Fund has delivered strong returns because it’s independent and profit-driven, so why break a model that works?”

“The investment decisions will inevitably be political. When governments try to ‘pick winners,’ taxpayers end up with the losses while connected industries pocket the gains. We’ve already seen this with KiwiBuild and the Provincial Growth Fund. Successful wealth funds overseas, like Norway’s, were built on genuine resource surpluses and disciplined fiscal management. Labour want to ban oil and gas exploration and spend like there’s no tomorrow. That’s not a recipe for prosperity.”

“New Zealand is starved of capital, and Labour is right about that. But the answer isn’t another bureaucracy pretending to be a venture capital firm. The best way to get money into productive investment is to make it attractive for Kiwis to do it themselves, without politicians in the way.”

"Most taxpayers would agree that the Government should focus on what it's good at, not try to play fund manager. By all means recycle capital - into good quality roads, and public services. But how many times do politicians need to flirt with corporate welfare and job creation schemes before they learn the lesson? State sponsored capitalism - mixing profit and social objectives – always fails."