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  2. REVEALED: Taxpayer dosh paid to Ministerial spouse’s firm – with no open tender

    The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that in the last year the Government has paid $356,466.61 to the consultancy firm of Peter Nunns – the partner of Associate Transport Julie Anne-Genter – without a single open tender process.The firm in question is MRCagney – for which Mr...

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  3. Op-ed: Leave the Super Fund alone

    When Sir Michael Cullen’s Super Fund was established, its explicit purpose was to help ensure that superannuation would remain fiscally sustainable long into the future while the population ages.It’s an expensive scheme. The Government has devoted $15.45 billion to the Fund since inception, approximately $8,935 per household in...

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  4. Cancel the hui, cut off the koha

    The budget blowout for Kelvin Davis’ Māori-Crown Relations engagement meetings shows the danger of taxpayer-funded ‘hui’ and koha payments. Calling a meeting a ‘hui’ shouldn’t be an excuse for lavish catering and bureaucratic extravagance. Besides, the fact Kelvin Davis had to hold 33 meetings to figure out what his new job...

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  5. New report: The Bitter Truth

    The Taxpayers' Union's new report The Bitter Truth: Why don't sugar taxes work?  focuses on the regressive economic effects of sugar taxes and responds to the central claim from public health lobbyists that sugar taxes will improve health outcomes. Whatever the good intentions the evidence shows that unfortunately sugar...

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  6. Guest Post: Larry Mitchell on Auckland Council examples of getting it wrong

    The previous guest posts I have discussed the ills of Auckland Council focussing upon their wasteful and inefficient approach to the control of their costs. I, along with many commentators believe that Auckland Council's costs are totally out of control.One of the key reasons they are out of control...

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  7. Shadbolt knocked off perch: new winner in race to buy most expensive vehicle in local government

    The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that Horizons Regional Council Chairman Bruce Gordon cost ratepayers $97,000 with the most expensive vehicle for a local government elected representative – a swanky BMW X4.The Union asked every council in the country for expenses associated with their vehicles. The full spreadsheet of...

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  8. Revealed: The most extravagant mayoral vehicles

    Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt drives the most expensive ratepayer-funded mayoral vehicle in the country, the New Zealand Taxpayers Union can reveal. The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has asked every council in the country for expenses associated with their mayoral vehicles. The full spreadsheet of expenses is available here.Invercargill District Council topped the chart for...

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  9. Taxpayers’ Union launch report at Parliament with inaugural "Jonesie Waste Awards"

    Today at Parliament the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union presented the inaugural Jonesie Waste Awards, recognising the best of the worst in government waste revealed in the last 12 months.The full details of the 2018 Jonesies are available as a report, which was launched at the awards ceremony (see below).The Jonesies...

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  11. Statement on Taxpayers' Union official information requests

    Below is the statement we provided to the NZ Herald in the lead up to publication of this article.The Taxpayers’ Union is a heavy user of the Official Information Act, comparable to media organisations such as the New Zealand Herald.The vast majority of public sector organisations respond to Taxpayers’ Union information...

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  12. Canterbury catering costs revealed: Christchurch City Council spends $51,000 on milk

    Christchurch City Council spent $350,208 on entertainment, gifts, and catering in 2017 – including $51,572 on milk, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.This makes Christchurch City the council with the highest level of ‘indulgence spending’ in New Zealand (aside from Auckland Council, who say they are unable to...

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  13. VIDEO: Porky protests the taxpayer-funded bonus for union members

    On Tuesday, the Taxpayers' Union team visited the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment offices to see if staff are willing to take the new taxpayer-funded $500 bonus for joining the Public Service Association – a union that helps the Labour Party during election campaigns.Sign the petition against this rort...

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  14. EXCLUSIVE: Labour-led Government give taxpayer-funded bonus to union mates

    The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is using taxpayer money to bribe workers into joining the Public Service Association. The following email was circulated to all MBIE staff and has been passed on to the Taxpayers’ Union. It reveals that, as a result of recent pay...

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  15. 2018 Ratepayers' Report published

    The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union, in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers Alliance, have today published this year's Ratepayers' Report  – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz. With these league tables, New Zealanders can easily compare their local council performance and financial position against similarly sized councils and types.By setting out more than two thousand data points,...

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  19. Hastings District Councillors must all be skipping breakfast

    As reported in the Hawke's Bay Today, a New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union analysis of catering costs at Hawke's Bay councils has revealed Hastings District Councillors to be guilty of ratepayer-funded gluttony.  Hastings District Council spent $50,375.88 on catering for its elected members in 2017 – or about $1,000 a week.  Across all of...

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  20. Christchurch City Council buckles: releases $1.2m “touch wall” spending

    After being faced with legal action from the Taxpayers’ Union (and potentially the Attorney General), Christchurch City Council has buckled and confirmed the amount spent on its seven-metre ‘touch wall’ – $1.245 million.This was an eleventh-hour backdown from the Council. We literally had the affidavit signed, papers prepared, and were ten minutes...

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  21. Taxpayers' Union welcomes Ombudsman judgment against Christchurch City Council

    The Ombudsman has invited the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union to bring enforcement proceedings to the High Court over Christchurch City Council’s failure to release the spending figure for the seven metre ‘touch wall’ in its new library. He has also asked the Attorney General to consider doing the...

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  22. Taxpayers’ Union welcomes Rex Nicholls to Board of Directors

    The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is pleased to announce that former Wellington City Councillor Rex Nicholls has joined the organisation's board of directors. Rex’s background is in engineering, project management, and property investment. His mix of civic and private achievements place him perfectly as an ambassador for taxpayers.Rex says:“I’ve...

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  25. Winston is in!

    With Jacinda Ardern now on maternity leave, Winston Peters has finally grasped the wheel of power.However, Mr Peters has had significant control over spending since the Government was formed late last year. Since then, Winston has negotiated for an array of projects, policies, and prizes for him and...

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  28. Amazon’s exit from Australia a warning for NZ – Australian taxpayer advocate

    Amazon’s decision to pull out of Australia in response to a new online shopping tax shows the peril of the New Zealand Government’s plan to introduce its own ‘Amazon tax’, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, in conjunction with its sister organisation the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance. Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance Director of Policy Satya Marar...

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  29. Winston's Dowry

    In the coming weeks, we will be launching a new project: Winston's Dowry. Marriage can be expensive, but normally the guests aren't given a bill at the end of the ceremony. In a political marriage, the cost of attendance can be significant. The aim of Winston's Dowry is to calculate the...

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  33. New Green-tint corporate welfare scheme mistaken

    Putting aside $100 million for a “Green Investment Fund” to compete with investment bankers is a mistake, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union.  Union Economist Joe Ascroft says “James Shaw says international investors are ‘already shifting into climate-aligned investments.’ If that’s the case, then why does the Government need to set...

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  34. Budget win for the Taxpayers’ Union with announcement of independent costing office

    The Taxpayers’ Union is celebrating that a policy it has pushed for since 2014 has been adopted by the Government. Jordan Williams, the Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union, says: “Since we launched our election ‘Bribe-O-Meter’ we have argued that New Zealand needs an independent election policy costing office.  This increases transparency, improves...

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  35. Megan Woods breaks word – gives into Callaghan self-interest.

    The Taxpayers’ Union is fuming that Minister for Research, Science and Innovation Megan Woods has broken her word and capitulated to Callaghan Innovation’s pressure to keep its precious corporate welfare grant schemes, rather than phasing them out in favour of the new R&D tax credit.Taxpayers' Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says,...

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  36. Government acknowledges merits of full capital expensing – but why just bloodstock?

    The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the underlying principle in the only tax change announced as part of today’s Budget 2018 to promote economic growth: full capital expensing of bloodstock. “Allowing full expensing of capital investments is the best tax reform no one has heard of,” says the Union’s Economist Joe Ascroft. “This is...

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  37. A billion dollars a year for 900 fewer tertiary students. WTF?

    Treasury has ripped off the political veil and exposed the Prime Minister’s flagship ‘free’ tertiary education policy with Budget showing that the numbers in tertiary education set to decline by 900 in the 2018/19 year. Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, says: “The whole reason the Prime Minister pushed ahead with...

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  38. Labour delivers predictable budget in sweet economic times

    From the Budget 2018 lock-up, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming Labour’s adherence to its pre-election ‘fiscal rules’ despite delivering significant Labour-Party style sweeteners in the Budget delivered today. Taxpayers’ Union Chairman, Barrie Saunders, says: “This is a classic Labour Party Budget, in probably the best economic times inherited by a...

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  40. Taxpayers' Union presents submission to Tax Working Group

    The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has finalised and presented its submission to the Tax Working Group, along with submissions from more than 800 Taxpayers’ Union members and supporters. We look forward to hearing the Working Group acknowledge not just our own submission, but those of the 800 or so taxpayers who have submitted...

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  42. Taxpayer-funded health activists bully Youthline against advice

    Taxpayer-funded health activists ignored advice from the Ministry of Health, Auckland Council, and Auckland Transport, to bully a company into dropping a promotion to raise money for Youthline, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. Healthy Auckland Together (HAT), a coalition of public agencies and taxpayer-funded health groups, used taxpayer money...

    Read more about Taxpayer-funded health activists bully Youthline against advice

  45. Police spend $2.5m on clothing allowances for non-uniformed staff

    New Zealand Police handed out $2,505,317 in clothing allowances to non-uniformed staff in 2017, according to figures obtained by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.Most of this spending was on 1,412 staff in the Criminal Investigator Branch staff who receive allowances of $1,413.72 a year.$1,400 a year would give...

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  46. National Party leadership

    Wellington has seen a flurry of activity this week as Bill English declared that he would be stepping down as National Party Leader and resigning from Parliament. We thanked Mr English for his service on behalf of taxpayers, noting his success in cutting taxes in 2010 and making...

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  47. Four months late: Callaghan releases latest spending figures

    Five months after it was requested under the Official Information Act, Callaghan Innovation has now released its 2016/17 entertainment expenses.The bill increased from the previous year, going from $304,675 to $308,969.It’s another long laundry list of taxpayer-funded purchases, largely of booze, fine dining, and flat whites for Callaghan...

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  49. Bureaucrats schmooze fat cats with your money

    The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has today released the full breakdown (attached) of Callaghan Innovation’s entertainment expenses for 2015/16.Earlier this month, we revealed Callaghan spent $304,000 on ‘entertainment’ in 2015/16. We can now confirm this was mostly purchases at cafes, bars and restaurants, and we have obtained receipts...

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  51. PETITION: End Ratepayer Subsidies to Singapore Airlines

    The failure of Singapore Airlines' Wellington-Canberra route shows what an utter waste the route’s multi-million dollar subsidy has been. The Wellington-Canberra route should never have been subsidised in the first place. Now that the spending has proven to be a complete waste, you would expect WREDA (Wellington Regional Economic...

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  52. EXPOSED: Bureaucrats party with drag queens on taxpayer dollar

    The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that a small government agency spent over $300,000 on ‘entertainment’ in 2015/16 – including a drag queen dinner and show for staff.The Union gained receipts for Callaghan Innovation’s entertainment purchases via the Official Information Act.From a laundry list of receipts from bars, cafes,...

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  53. MEDIA RELEASE: Tax Working Group Should Be Tasked With Fiscal Neutrality

    14 DECEMBER 2017FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEWith the Budget Policy Statement indicating fiscal restraint, and the Government not signalling increases in revenue over and above nominal growth and fiscal drag, the Tax Working Group should be tasked to offer fiscally neutral solutions says the Taxpayers’ Union. Jordan Williams, the Union’s Executive Director,...

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  54. MEDIA RELEASE: Labour’s Mini-Budget Delivers Fiscal Restraint

    14 DECEMBER 2017FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE“Grant Robertson’s pre-Christmas spend-up appears to tie his hand in years to come, and offers a welcome dose of fiscal restraint,” says the Taxpayers’ UnionExecutive Director, Jordan Williams, reacting to today’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update. “Today’s HYEFU was a mini-budget – it changes the...

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  55. MEDIA RELEASE: KiwiBuild Spending Mostly Crowds Out What Would Be Built Anyway

    14 DECEMBER 2017FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEBy the next election, the Government will have spent two billion dollars on KiwiBuild, but only a little more than a third of that will have translated into additional houses according to Treasury analysis pointed to by the Taxpayers’ Union. New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Economist Joe Ascroft, says,...

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  56. MEDIA RELEASE: Winter Energy Payment Is Universalism At Its Worst

    14 DECEMBER 2017FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEWith the Budget Policy Statement indicating fiscal restraint, and the Government not signalling increases in revenue over and above nominal growth and fiscal drag, the Tax Working Group should be tasked to offer fiscally neutral solutions says the Taxpayers’ Union. Jordan Williams, the Union’s Executive Director,...

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  58. $190,000 per student

    $380 million = $190,000 eachEarlier this week, the Government announced the details of its plan to make the first year of tertiary study free fully taxpayer funded. For the princely sum of $380 million, an extra 2,000 students are expected to pursue tertiary study from next year – that’s $190,000...

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  59. Ratepayers' Report reveals the two NZ councils without Audit and Risk Committees

    Our 2017 Ratepayers' Report - local government league tables - has identified Otorohanga, and Grey District Councils as the only two local authorities in New Zealand to govern without an Audit and Risk Committee.Earlier in the year, Ratepayers' Report showed that Otorohanga, Grey and Waitomo District Councils were the only New Zealand councils failing to...

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  62. New Report: Fare Game? Flagging Down the Cost of Public Servant Taxis

    Our new report, titled Fare Game? Flagging down the cost of public sector taxis, shows that bureaucrats choosing more expensive taxi services over ride-sharing apps like Uber have cost taxpayers at least $9.81 million since Uber’s introduction in mid-2014.Currently, the 28 tier-one public service departments spend about $9.3 million a year on...

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  64. False START at IRD

    Inland Revenue’s new IT system, implemented in February for their GST services, has been a disappointment. According to official data from IRD, the time spent handling GST related enquiries increased by 50% when the system was first introduced in February earlier this year. As of August, months after implementation,...

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  65. Auckland Council second highest rates in NZ (and they tried to hide it)

    Auckland Council has been caught out providing false information regarding the average rates paid by Auckland households, with revised figures showing that Aucklanders pay the second highest rates in New Zealand.Over multiple years, officials have provided incorrect information to the Taxpayers’ Union and Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance researchers under...

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  66. It's the corporate welfare which is the problem 

    An article published last week by Fairfax has left an incorrect impression on the reason why the Taxpayers' Union objects to the Government signing an R&D cooperation agreement with Israel. The Union wishes to clarify that it is the nature of the agreement – that Callaghan Innovation's corporate welfare R&D grants will favour companies working with...

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  67. Apology from LGNZ

    The Taxpayers’ Union has accepted a settlement and apology from Local Government New Zealand President Dave Cull relating to public statements he made about the accuracy of the Taxpayers’ Union’s local government league tables, ‘Ratepayers Report’, and honesty of the organisation.While we make no apology for our research being hard hitting and won’t...

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  68. Should Bob Simcock resign?

    Today's Waikato Times covers our call for Waikato DHB Chair, Bob Simcock, to follow his disgraced Cheif Executive, Nigel Murray, and resign for the lack of oversight and expense scandal, we've been bombarded with feedback from our members and supports in the Waikato region on the issue.We've been looking...

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  70. Barrie Saunders appointed to Taxpayers' Union Board

    Well known former Wellington lobbyist and former journalist, Barrie Saunders, has been appointed to the board of the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.Barrie retired from the government relations consultancy, Saunders Unsworth, in March 2015, after 25 years as a government relations consultant.  The company specialises in the management of public policy...

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  71. Bribe-O-Meter Update: Adding Up the Cost of Potential Government Coalitions

    In the final Bribe-O-Meter update before the election, the Taxpayers’ Union has put together the combined manifesto costings for a range of potential coalitions. These figures will allow voters to gain a better understanding of the fiscal implications of a potential Government over the next three-year parliamentary term. This week we have put together...

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  76. Bribe-O-Meter Update (Week 6)

    National Party Doubles New Spending Promises In Just Seven DaysNational spends-up large...The National Party has more than doubled its new election spending in the space of just one week. Since last Monday, the National Party has increased promised spending from $2.5 to $6.8 billion across the next parliamentary...

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  77. 2017 Ratepayers' Report published

    This morning, in partnership with our sister group, the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance, we published the 2017 "Ratepayers' Report" - our local government interactive league tables. The tool allows ratepayers to see how their local council performs on metrics including average rates, staff numbers, liabilities per resident, and even CEO salary.Ratepayers'...

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  79. Bribe-O-Meter update (week 3)

    Bribe-O-Meter week 3: All minor parties added, NZ First spending in excess of $22.5bIn this weeks update, all parties currently in Parliament have been added to the Taxpayers’ Union Bribe-O-Meter, which tracks the costs of election policies as they are announced.To date, NZ First has the most expensive set of policies,...

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  80. Rotorua Lakes Council accepts Supreme Achievement Award for importing mud from South Korea

    The Taxpayers’ Union mascot, "Porky the Waste-hater", visited Rotorua this morning, and awarded the Rotorua Mayor a “Supreme Achievement Award” for imagination and achievement in wasting public money, following the Mayor’s decision to spend $90,000 of public money to import five tonnes of mud from South Korea. The mud is...

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  81. 2017 Election Bribe-O-Meter Launched

    The Taxpayers’ Union is repeating its popular election costing tool with the launch of the 2017 General Election Bribe-O-Meter to keep track of the cost of party manifestos in the lead up to polling day.The Bribe-O-Meter provides transparency on what the promises made by political parties will cost and it holds to account politicians...

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  82. NZ’s biggest companies received over $7 million of taxpayer money for power bills

    The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that over $7 million of taxpayer money has been spent on the power bills of 94 of New Zealand’s largest companies since July 2014. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s (EECA) ‘large energy users programme’ provides funding to businesses, in an attempt to encourage...

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  84. Green’s Utopia: The fastest way to achieving equality is to make everybody poorer

    The Green Party’s attempt to increase the welfare state in their policy launched over the weekend, is not only an unnecessary burden on taxpayers but also founded on a misunderstanding of the economic realities facing New Zealand.Firstly, the Green's claim that inequality has been increasing in New Zealand....

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  85. HRC 'anti-racist' campaign funded by levy based on race

    The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal the Human Rights Commission’s recent “Give Nothing To Racism” anti-discrimination campaign has been funded by discriminatory levies payable only by international students and new migrants.The Human Rights Commission campaign featuring advertisements of Neil Finn and Taika Waititi was funded from the Export Education...

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  86. Don't claw the cats

    The Dunedin Mayor’s pitch to local councils in his campaign to be elected the new president of Local Government New Zealand is nuts. Despite the vast majority of ratepayers considering the move silly, Dave Cull wants to use ratepayers’ money to lobby the government to force cat owners to register their...

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  88. Sugar Tax Response

    In my opinion piece in Wednesday's New Zealand Herald, I laid out a list of reasons why a sugar tax on soft drinks would be a bad piece of public policy and would do little, if anything, to reduce obesity rates.In brief, I pointed to the failure in other...

    Read more about Sugar Tax Response

  89. Socialism for the Rich

    Today we have released our latest report, ‘Socialism for the Rich’, by Jim Rose. The report shows that the annual cost of corporate welfare is now $1.6 billion - or $931 per New Zealand household.‘Socialism for the Rich’ collates the costs of all the corporate welfare expenditure in Budget 2017....

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  92. Labour Party, Phil Goff deserting the poor in support of motorway tolls.

    Phil Goff and the Labour Party need to re-examine their support for motorway tolls if they want to remain champions of low income workers, say the Taxpayers’ Union. It is pointing out that motorway tolls would disproportionately affect low income workers in Auckland’s outer suburbs.Jordan Williams, Executive Director...

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  97. Media Release: Bill English bets on a modest carrot, big spending, to win an election

    ‘Vote for National and get a tax cut next year’ is the message from Budget 2017, says Jordan Williams, Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union. “But middle and high-income earners will be burdened with a higher proportion of the costs of government.” “The person on the average wage has...

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  98. Media Release: Very little for business sector in Budget 2017

    With the exception of corporate welfare (which taxes all businesses more, to divert grants to favoured businesses and industries) the business-friendly initiative which features in the Budget announcements is a single proposal to allow deductibility of capital investment 'viability expenditure'.  The Government has announced $372.8 million of new operating funding...

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  99. Budget 2017 - pre-budget analysis

    Budget 2017: Guide to Possible Tax ChangesSteven Joyce has intimated that this Budget will provide tax relief to New Zealanders through an adjustment in tax thresholds. As we go into the Budget lock up, the Taxpayers Union’ have put together some benchmark figures as a guide to judging the size of...

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