Lower Taxes, Less Waste,
More Accountability

Championing Value For Money From Every Tax Dollar

Government still a long way off $49 a week tax relief

Reacting to Nicola Willis’ speech to the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce this morning, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Nicola Willis rightly recognises that ‘[w]orkers have endured 14 years without any adjustment to tax brackets’. She must now unwind those stealth tax hikes by providing $49 a week in tax relief to the average earner.

“Anything less than $49 a week is simply a partial reset, keeping taxes much higher than they were 14 years ago while the Government pockets the rest. That is unacceptable.

“Kiwis are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, fuelled by wasteful and reckless government spending. Now is exactly the time to slash the waste and deliver tax relief to working New Zealanders.”

Gas tank heritage listing decision nothing but hot air

Responding to news that Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop has rejected Wellington City Council’s calls to remove ten buildings from the Heritage List, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Wellington ratepayers are drowning in the cost of propping up buildings like the Town Hall, which on its own is costing every household up to $4,000. When by some miracle Wellington Council agreed to de-list something, we shouldn’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth.

“It’s clear to anyone with access to Google images that some rust-bucket gas tank has no heritage value whatsoever. No-one but a tiny handful of fringe activists wants these buildings to be listed.

"Tying the city up in red tape does nothing except stunt growth and drive up house prices. It’s residents who end up on the hook for the cost of preserving them, so councils need the ability to de-list them without having to wade through endless central government bureaucracy."

Chief Electoral Officer needs to fall on his sword

Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Even after taking weeks to count the vote, the best the Electoral Commission could manage was rushing an error-filled attempt at a final check hours before the result was announced.

“Official checks being little more than sticking a finger in the air and hoping for the best meant hundreds of votes were either lost, left out or double-counted. 

“Democracy can’t be allowed to become a fudge-job. If Electoral Commission Chief Exec Karl Le Quesne can’t do his job, then he needs to find a new one.”

Beehive need to lead by example

The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

“This is a bad look for the Government, and an own goal.

“This spending, on top of the Prime Minister’s failure to prevent unjustified pay hikes for MPs - while the average household’s real income is going backwards - is hypocritical.”

Double-dipping MP needs to pay salary back to Council

Responding to an announcement by Jamie Arbuckle MP that he intends to resign as a Marlborough Councillor in October this year, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross:

“Jamie Arbuckle claims that he’s hanging around as a Councillor until October to avoid the cost of a by-election, but that concern for ratepayers is clearly only skin-deep.

“When Mr Arbuckle says he’ll give his Council salary to charity, what he’s actually saying is he thinks he knows how to spend ratepayers’ money better than they do.

“Rather than picking projects he likes, Jamie Arbuckle needs to pay the salary he never should have been claiming in the first place back to the Council.”

Double-dipping MP Jamie Arbuckle taking ratepayers for a ride

NZ First MP Jamie Arbuckle should do the honourable thing and either resign his seat as a Marlborough councillor, or stop ‘double dipping’ in taking two salaries to be an elected representative. 

Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said; 

“Being an MP is more than a full-time job. That’s why councillors nearly always stand down when they stand for Parliament. 

“Having two jobs is one thing, but who does this MP think he is pocketing both salaries at the same time while the families who pay his wages are struggling through a cost-of-living crisis?

“MPs are paid handsomely to represent their community. Getting another job to do the same thing and taking both sets of cash is exactly the sort of double-dip rort Winston Peters would normally call out.” 

Auckland’s Watercare plan avoids pitfalls of Three Waters

The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the Government’s changes to Watercare, as part of the Government’s replacement to the so-called “Three Waters”.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Jordan Williams said:

“The devil may be in the detail, but the Government’s announcement is consistent with our proposed replacement to Three Waters. It keeps ratepayer ownership and ultimate control under local democratically elected representatives, plus avoids unnecessary bureaucracy.

“Balance sheet separation is necessary in Auckland because the Council has borrowed up to the eyeballs, meaning Watercare didn’t have capacity to borrow for long-term infrastructure investment. These changes will protect Auckland ratepayers from having to pay upfront for long term infrastructure Auckland needs.

“Watercare is the odd one out, as balance sheet separation isn’t required for the the rest of New Zealand – despite what the last Government said. Nevertheless, if this is the model in terms of electricity lines-style regulatory oversight for other regions, ratepayers can breathe a sigh of relief.”

Taxpayer Update: Time to get rid of TVNZ 📺💰 | Hipkins caught telling porkies 🤥🐷

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Happy Friday,

Lots to cover this week so let's get straight into it...

1News isn't even pretending to be impartial anymore

1News political editor, Maiki Sherman, could barely hold back her excitement on Monday night when she announced the results of the latest 1News Verian poll, which showed the centre-right dropping a few points in support and handing Te Pāti Māori the balance of power. 


According to Sherman, ACT's score of 7% (down just 1.6 points since the election) somehow meant the party's support was in "free fall" and, with New Zealand First polling less than 5% (the threshold to get into Parliament), the poll result "could be mayday for the coalition".

Can someone please tell Maiki the next election is two-and-a-half years away? 🤣

She also described the Government's savings as "austerity in absolute overdrive". She needs to get a grip. The measures the Government has taken to stem out of control spending don't even wind back the increases to the levels they were in June last year! Is Maiki really so out of touch with the reality of the Government's books, or did Grant Robertson hack her tele prompter?

When a lobby group presents polling with less spin than the state-owned media company, maybe there's a problem...

We know a little bit about the presentation of polling. After all, our monthly Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll is both more regular and was more accurate in predicting the last election result than TVNZ's effort. As we say in our office, "a poll is a poll" – it speaks for itself. Our poll results regularly upset National, and Labour (as you'd expect). You don't need to gleefully add commentary which undermines the very objectivity that a professional/scientific third-party poll is supposed to be all about.

It should (but probably doesn't) concern TVNZ's board, that the Taxpayers' Union reports its poll with less sensationalism than our impartial state broadcaster.

A bad habit of dodgy poll reporting

But as "the best pollster in New Zealand" (as described by Sir John Key), David Farrar, pointed out, Maiki Sherman's gleefulness wasn't an isolated incident. TVNZ's news outfit also put out two other polls this week with the same slanted framing.

On Tuesday, TVNZ reported under the headline: A "slim majority agree with public sector cuts". Here's the tweet of the same story:

TVNZ Tweeting Flake News

Bzzzzzt. Wrong. 

According to the poll, 52% of people said the public sector cuts were "about right" or "didn't go far enough", as opposed to just 35% who thought it went "too far".  Slim, apparently...

Even former Labour MP Stuart Nash has labelled the recent reporting "absolutely shocking".

Doubling down on the trend, on Wednesday, TVNZ did even better, releasing a third poll, this time on support for the Fast–Track Approvals Bill. The poll found a statistically even split of 40% of voters in favour, and 41% against.

But you wouldn't have known that from the headline which, (colour me surprised) made out that most people didn't support the bill: claiming Just 40% support, and combining the 'don't knows' with the actual 'noes'! 🤦‍♂️

1News Tweet

Maiki's gleeful reporting on Monday night was bad enough, but the persistency of anti-government framing suggests that TVNZ's newsroom has lost its way, and is either ignorant, or ignoring, the tradition of state-owned media avoiding 'taking a side'.

What's the point in owning TVNZ anyway?

TVNZ is up front that it doesn’t do a public broadcaster-style “strictly news” approach, nor does it even ensure its John Campbell-type highly paid “opinion” contributors are balanced with even just a single conservative. Its only hard news shows (Sunday and Fair Go) are being axed, and Breakfast and Seven Sharp are so journalistically shallow that companies and causes can pay to be in them!

Now, even 1News political polls aren't being presented without an agenda.

So the obvious question is, why should TVNZ remain owned by taxpayers?

TVNZ doesn't want to be public broadcaster any more: Sign the petition to sell it

Proponents of state media say that it is important in a democracy to have impartial sources of news, but TVNZ and 1News have given up all pretence of being impartial. 

We say that they can't have it both ways. Either they are a commercial player (and should be covering their cost of capital and paying a dividend back to taxpayers) or they are an impartial public service news service. Right now, they are a subsidised propaganda outlet.

The Government has a debt problem. If we're lucky, TVNZ might still be worth something. Selling off TVNZ now could be a 'two birds, one stone' solution..

A private TVNZ would likely be more balanced and diverse than what it offers currently. It would be more incentivised to cater to an audience underserved by the current selection of media.

It's time the Government took action and sold off TVNZ while it's still worth something.

If TVNZ is sold off and left to sink or swim on entirely the merits of its programming, then it would be forced to try harder harder to build trust with Kiwis. If you agree, sign the petition to sell TVNZ.

>>> Sign the petition ✍️ <<<

Slew of secret judges' perks finally exposed 👨‍⚖️ 

For years we've been trying to get the secret list of judges' perks from the Ministry of Justice, which have – until now – effectively been a state secret. Props to Andrea Vance and the Sunday Star Times for their dogged determination in pursuing this that has finally resulted in a breakthrough.

And no wonder the judiciary wanted to keep their entitlements behind bars. It's nothing short of a courtroom rort.

Here's a breakdown of just some of the many perks judges receive (they're not all public, yet...):

🤑 5,360 km per year for each judge (and a plus one!) on any non-work-related plane rides.

🤑 Free limo rides to and from court outside normal working hours “when transport by taxi or other means is difficult or inconvenient”.

🤑 A $20,000 housing allowance for judges who regularly sit in Wellington but live outside the capital.

🤑 $500 towards a new pen and briefcase.

🤑 One year's sabbatical for each 10 years of service.

🤑 On retirement, a month's paid leave for every year of service (discounting the sabbatical).

In what other job does your employer pay for you to swan around the country with virtually unlimited plane rides for you and your partner!?

We say Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann needs to front up and explain why these allowances are necessary, particularly when many Kiwis can barely afford their weekly groceries, let alone the luxuries that are being provided to those already on half-a-million a year salaries.

New Zealanders slammed with third-highest tax hike in the OECD 🔝

According to new figures from the OECDthe average single income earner in New Zealand saw their effective tax rate increase by 4.5% from 2022 to 2023 – more than almost every other country in the developed world.

While politicians didn't announce income tax hikes, thanks to inflation, it's happened anyway. It's called 'fiscal drag' or 'bracket creep'.

Thanks to high inflation, earners have been bumped up into higher tax brackets and are paying a bigger share of their wages in taxes despite being no better off. 

To put this in perspective: a minimum wage worker doing 40 hours is now paying the third (30 cents on the dollar) marginal tax rate!

But one-off tax relief is only a temporary fix. Unless tax brackets are automatically adjusted for inflation each year, tax relief is only a partial return of stolen income, attached to a promise to keep on stealing. 

A Kiwi on the average income of $66,196 is paying $2,556 more in tax each year because of successive Governments' failure to adjust income tax brackets for inflation since they were last reset in 2010.

We look forward to Nicola Willis sorting this out on 30 May when she delivers her first budget. 😉🙏💰

Seeing straight through the Window & Glass Association's patch-protection 🪟

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, as a group on the side of taxpayers and consumers, we take pride in calling out the hundreds of special interest lobbies, even if they're on the side of "business".

This week, the Window and Glass Association tried it on: whinging about the Government opening up the building sector to [check notes] overseas competition. 🤔

Goodness, we can't allow that. Windows?! Built overseas? Perish the thought. 😱

The Window and Glass Association claims overseas products "won't be fit for purpose" and consumers won't be able to access replacement parts and warranties.

But those crocodile tears simply don't stand up to scrutiny. Every day people make tradeoffs in the products they buy and ultimately make what they believe is the best choice for themselves. We see it with those who buy a Japanese car over a European one so it's easier to get replacement parts. Trusting consumers to make their own decisions is nothing new.

The group also argued that restricting foreign competition and forcing people to pay more for building products 
would "support local manufacturers". But artificially forcing people to pay more for one product simply means they have less money to spend elsewhere, in effect harming other local businesses. Ironically, economists call arguments like those made by the Association a "broken window fallacy".

👆 The Association's broken window fallacy in a nutshell 👆

As a part time DIY'er (or so he says), my colleague Connor told Radio NZ, "Only a special interest industry group could complain about reducing building costs during a housing crisis."

RNZ Building Concerns

Chris Hipkins caught red-handed fibbing about public sector statistics 🤥

Chris Hipkins isn't letting the facts get in the way of his defence of his public sector union mates. His latest ploy to skew the narrative on the back-office bureaucracy problem is to pretend there isn't one and fib about the numbers.

In an interview on Newshub earlier this week, Chris Hipkins said that the the number of public sector employees as a proportion of the total NZ workforce was smaller now than when he first took over:

"The size of the public sector workforce relative to the overall size of the workforce is actually slightly less than it was when we first became the government."

Bzzzzt. Wrong.

Data from the Public Service Commission shows that the total number of employees in the public sector as a proportion of the total NZ workforce actually increased under Labour's watch from 17.9% in 2017 to 18.7% in 2023.

(Here's the link for the benefit of any journalists wanting to factcheck Mr. Hipkins)

To make things worse, Hipkins is trying to pull the wool over New Zealanders' eyes by using public sector figures (which include nurses, teachers, etc) rather than public service figures (ie the bureaucrats), which is where the real bloat is at.

In fact, the number of pen-pushers in Wellington grew at more than three times the rate of education workers during the Labour Government!

If only Hipkins had been Minister of Education. Oh wait.

And it's not like Mr. Hipkins would know the difference between the public sector and public service and is in full knowledge that he's comparing apples with oranges. It's not like he's been Minister for the Public Service or anything...

Government departments cheating with their staffing cuts 🥸

When is a 'cut' a cut? It appears departments across the Public Service have been playing games with their job cut figures too.

Government departments have been overcooking the scale of the job reductions by including roles that don't currently have anyone in them!

For instance, the Department of Internal Affairs just last week told staff that they would be cutting 59 roles. Cue the outrage by the likes of Maiki the public sector unions. But of the 59, 42 are already vacant!

And the Ministry of Education, which claimed to be getting rid of more roles than any other department, at 565, is only really sacking 340 bureaucrats, because the rest are already empty!

This is what happens when Ministers delegate control of savings decisions to public sector bosses, rather than taking the hard decisions themselves.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with James Meager

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Connor sat down with newly elected National MP, James Meager.

James was elected as the MP for Rangitata at the 2023 General Election, reclaiming the seat from Labour with a significant majority. James is a lawyer and also has a Bachelor of Arts. James made national headlines following his maiden speech where he spoke of his early life growing up as a Māori boy in a state house house with a single mother before going on to be head boy and dux of Timaru Boys' High School. At university, he says he was a libertarian. Now he is more of a classical liberal – advocating for limited, rather than minimal, government. 

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple Podcasts, | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

That's it for this week,

Yours aye,

Callum

Callum Signature

Callum Purves
Head of Campaigns
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union 

Donate

 

Media Mentions:

Kiwiblog Call for Support: Has the Time Come for a Wellington Ratepayer Activist Group?

Newhsub 'Got another thing coming': Govt's RMA changes a 'direct attack', 'add fuel to climate crisis fire' - opponents

Stuff Councillors ‘can’t sugar-coat’ Gore’s rates increase

The Spinoff The voices that vanish in a decimated newsroom

RNZ Building product concerns dismissed: 'The industry is lacking competition'

NZ Herald Taxpayers’ Union attacks KiwiSaaS group that includes big tech names; they stand their ground

NZ Herald Mary Holm: How to kill debt without selling that classic car or treasured artwork

Sunday Star Times Aotearoa's most popular mayor: Dan Gordon of Waimakariri

NZ Herald Wayne Brown’s massive Auckland budget problems - Simon Wilson

interest.co.nz Independent Renumeration Authority recommends a 2.8% pay rise for Members of Parliament

NewstalkZB The Huddle: Do we need to keep funding the Christchurch Call?

The Platform Councillor Tony Randle on Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau's Decline

Otago Daily Times Letters to the Editor: Labour, trains and April fools

NewstalkZB Morning Edition: 01 May 2024 – Christchurch Call (01:50)

NewstalkZB Jason Walls: Newstalk ZB Political Editor on MPs being granted a pay rise

RNZ MPs pay rise 'out of touch' says Taxpayer Union

RNZ Labour leader Hipkins on EU trade deal

The Times Online Luxon pledges to donate pay rise to charity

Indian Newslink Taxpayers Union and others oppose pay hike to MPs

Pacific Media News PMN News 02 May 2024 – MPs’ Pay (01:00)

The Westport News How do Buller’s rates compare? [print only]

MPs in Depth: James Meager

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with National Party MP, James Meager. 

James was elected as the MP for Rangitata at the 2023 General Election, reclaiming the seat from Labour with a significant majority. James is a lawyer and also has a Bachelor of Arts. James made national headlines following his maiden speech where he spoke of his early life growing up as a Māori boy in a state house house with a single mother before going on to be head boy and dux of Timaru Boys' High School. At university, he says he was a libertarian. Now he is more of a classical liberal – advocating for limited, rather than minimal, government. 

James's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow James on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsiHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

BREAKING: Ivory tower academics call for tax on Netflix to subsidise Video Ezy and United Video

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming a proposal from ivory tower academics to tax digital services to subsidise traditional news media, equating it to taxing Netflix to subsidise obsolete Video Ezy and United Video.

Commenting on the proposal, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“If producers of better and cheaper goods and services were forced to stump up cash every time they threatened an incumbent, we would still be using horse and cart to get around.

“The reality is that consumer preferences are changing, so the media must change with it. Some companies are already doing this successfully, and we should not artificially prop up those who are unable to compete and crowd potentially better content out from the market.

“The only positive from this is that there appears to be at least some recognition that Willie Jackson’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill would lead to the same chaos seen in Canada and Australia where the tech companies have pulled news content - or are planning to - from their sites completely. But now, any claim to a supposedly principled argument over intellectual property is gone and it’s clear this is nothing more than a shameless money grab.”

Te Huia Train Service Must Stop Stealing From Motorists’ Pockets

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to end the rort that sees millions of dollars funnelled away from motorists into the inefficient and expensive Te Huia Train Service.

A recent review of the train service between Auckland and Hamilton reveals that it has budgeted a $5.45 million contribution from the NZTA for the current financial year.  Roughly 90% of NZTA’s Land Transport Fund comes from fuel, registration and road-user charges.

The Minister of Transport recently said that subsides equate to approximately $90 per passenger for each leg of the journey, or $180 per return trip.

Commenting on the review, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Motorists should not be forced to continue subsidising this unprofitable service, for which they derive minimal or no benefit at all. Essentially, motorists are subsidising the lifestyle choices of a small number of Hamiltonians – this has to stop.

“There is no clearer sign that this is a complete waste of money than the fact that it would be cheaper to pay for the fuel of every single passenger to drive alone each day instead.

“Transport decisions must be made with value for money and efficiency front of mind, not from an ill-informed and ideological hatred of cars.”

Economically illiterate council must not force $55 million hotel cost onto ratepayers

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming a proposal by Whanganui District Council to build a $55 million four-star hotel and carpark.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“It is unbelievable that while ratepayers are staring down the barrel of a 10.6% rates hike the council wants to throw ratepayer money down the drain on a vanity project.

“This is exactly the kind of waste and economically illiterate extravagance that got councils into the mess of needing double-digit rate hikes in the first place.

“The Mayor claims that there is strong case for the hotel, but if that’s really true then there will be plenty of private developers who will be willing to fund it. The council need not be involved.

Punishing businesses won’t lift Kiwis out of cost-of-living crisis

Responding to comments from Nicola Willis that scrapping commercial depreciation is being used to raise funds for personal income tax relief, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Hardworking Kiwis need income tax relief, but that’s only half the equation. Driving up the cost of doing business in New Zealand through short-term thinking like this will leave the country poorer in the long run.

“Given we have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world, Kiwis wanting to see real wage growth need their Government to be doing everything it can to attract investment, not going out of their way to scare it away.

“Public spending has increased 84% in just six years, while outcomes in health, education, and law and order have been plummeting. Whipping the public sector into shape is where Nicola Willis needs to be finding the savings for tax relief.”

Taxpayers’ Union slams secret list of judges’ perks

Taxpayers’ Union slams secret list of judges’ perks

Responding to the long-awaited release of judges’ special allowances, including free air travel and hotels for spouses, generous sabbaticals, and access to limousines, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Alex Murphy said:

“In what world does your employer cover personal air fares for both you and your family, even when the purpose of the travel is completely unrelated to your work? No wonder the judiciary has been fighting tooth and nail to keep these special privileges under wraps – it’s a complete embarrassment.

“Judges are already paid upwards of $300,000 a year, and receive one of the most generous pension packages in the public sector. To then gift them a whole swathe of special perks on top of their already hefty salary is simply taking the mickey.

“The Chief Justice should be fronting up and justifying why any of these special allowances are appropriate, especially at a time when the courts are backed up the wazoo, and the average New Zealander is only getting poorer and poorer.”

Hipkins is wrong about what Labour Government got wrong

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming comments by Chris Hipkins that freezing MP pay under the Ardern government led to worse outcomes, arguing that he should instead reflect on the poor decision-making that made outcomes much worse over the past six years.

Chris Hipkins claimed on RNZ this morning that “every example of where we’ve meddled in the process as a Parliament in the past has led to worse outcomes rather than better outcomes.”

Responding to these comments, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Of all the decisions made by the previous government, it is embarrassing that Chris Hipkins’ only regret seems to be that his pay was frozen. The only bad outcome from freezing MP pay was felt by MPs personally with slightly less taxpayer money lining their pockets. The blame for the rest of the country’s problems sit squarely with politicians making terrible policy.

“Crime, education and health outcomes all got worse while government spending grew by 84% and debt spiralled out of control.

“It is the decisions of his Government that caused families to be struggling today. It is completely immoral to accept any pay increase until this country is turned back around.”

MPs must reject out-of-touch near $20,000 pay hike

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming today’s determination from the Remuneration Authority that backbench MPs will be receiving an additional $17,239 in base salaries by the end of the Parliamentary term.  This comes alongside a $2,320 increase to backbench MPs’ annual tax-free expense allowances by the end of the Parliamentary term.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Jordan Williams, said:

“While the average income of households is going backwards, MPs are locking in annual increases that don’t reflect the real world. The decision demonstrates that the Wellington-based Remuneration Authority are out of touch with the rest of New Zealand.

“The base salary is highly misleading. Once the enormous superannuation subsidy, tax-free allowances, taxpayer-funded meals and accommodation allowances are factored in, even the lowest-paid MP is already paid more than $200,000.

“The economy is going backwards. Household incomes continue to decline. The Government is adding $75 million a day to the national debt. Now is not the time to hike MPs' pay.”

Air NZ’s nosediving performance shows need for privatisation

Commenting on news that Jetstar has overtaken Air New Zealand as the most reliable airline service provider, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Where’s the incentive for efficiency when the Government’s always got your back? It’s no wonder Jetstar is beating Air NZ to the punch.

“Taxpayers can’t keep being expected to turn a blind eye to the fact that a former Air NZ CEO is now running the very same Government that is failing to hold his former work pals accountable for their performance.

“Taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidising Koru Lounge jet-setters, and it’s well past time Air NZ got the Telecom treatment and was sold off.”

Revealed: Tauranga Council spending thousands paying transport fares for highest paid staff

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that Tauranga City Council has spent $41,900 over just seven months paying public transport fares for 630 of its staff, almost half of which are earning more than $100,000 a year.

The spending is part of the city’s Bee Card scheme that forces ratepayers to fund transport for bureaucrats who in most instances will be earning more than them.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

 “Council staff should be paying their own way to work like almost every other ratepayer has to. Ratepayers are effectively being forced to pay fares twice, once for their own travel into the city and a second time for the highly-paid bureaucrat sitting next to them.

“The Council is deliberately misleading ratepayers by over-inflating the impact of this handout on congestion and parking pressures. They assert that every ratepayer-funded trip taken means one less car on the road, neglecting to mention that some staff would have taken the bus regardless and others would have taken alternative transport such as walking, cycling or carpooling.

“If the council was really concerned about congestion, they should start by removing the free car parking subsidy for many of their staff. Tauranga residents would have never voted for this handout, but it’s no surprise the cartel of unelected commissioners are looking after their own at ratepayers’ expense.”

Kiwis slapped with second-highest tax hike in the developed world

Responding to news that New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax hikes in the OECD last year, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“People earning no more in real terms have a higher and higher proportion of their income taken with every passing year thanks to 14 uninterrupted years of bracket creep. The inflation tax keeps robbing more from Kiwi workers, and Government after Government has been happy to look the other way.

“As health, education, and law & order outcomes plummet, Kiwis have been squeezed dry for the privilege. A single Kiwi on the average wage needs to see Nicola Willis slashing their income tax bill cut by almost 7% just to undo last year’s ballooning alone.

“A one-off adjustment isn’t enough. Any tax relief in the budget without indexing tax brackets to inflation is just giving with one hand whilst promising to keep stealing more and more each year with the other.”

Government should should pull plug on tech sector handouts

Government should should pull plug on tech sector handouts

Responding to calls from tech sector group KiwiSaaS for millions of dollars in corporate welfare to be renewed, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“A special interest group calling for corporate welfare isn’t exactly news, but Judith Collins needs to hold firm and not cave in to crony capitalism.

“Governments shouldn’t be using taxpayers' money trying to pick winners or propping up fashionable industries like SaaS with handouts.

“If the government wants to put a rocket under New Zealand businesses, then the tried-and-true way to do that is just getting out of their way. Cut red tape and deliver businesses tax relief across the board. For SaaS companies, introducing full expensing would be a far better way to foster investment and growth than government subsidies.”

New Media Minister must rule out state intervention in private media

The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“His first move must be to condemn Willie Jackson’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill to the scrap heap. This bill would see New Zealanders losing access to news content on social media, as seen in Canada, and would break the underpinning of the internet that it is free to link to other sites.

“If media companies want to stop their content being used on social media platforms, they can already put it behind a paywall. In fact, we know they benefit from the current arrangement as outfits, including RNZ, are actually paying Facebook to advertise links to their content.

“No one would accept government bailouts or screwing the scrum in favour of Video Ezy when Netflix came about, we shouldn’t accept them for private media either. If the Minister wants to make it easier for private media to operate, he should consider privatising the state-owned media companies while they are still worth something to ensure a level playing field where no media is backed by a Government giant."

Taxpayers’ Union shatters Window & Glass Association’s protectionist drivel

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming today’s comments from Window and Glass Association NZ whinging about the opening up of their sector to much-needed competition.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Only a special interest industry group could complain about reducing building costs during a housing crisis. Their superficial arguments are nothing more than window dressing.

“It’s no surprise the Window and Glass Association supports the broken window fallacy, but the cracks in their argument are there for all to see.

“Forcing people to pay more than they otherwise would in an open market simply takes money away from consumers that would have been spent elsewhere, in effect costing jobs and punishing businesses in other sectors of the economy.

“Crocodile tears of concerns around the quality of products or the ease of getting replacement parts simply don’t hold up. Every day people make tradeoffs in the products they buy and ultimately make what they believe to be the best choice for themselves. We see it with those who opt to purchase a Japanese car over a European one due to the relative ease of getting replacement parts, trusting consumers to make their own decisions is nothing new.

“The industry should be welcoming competition, seeing it as an opportunity to prove they are the best in the world, kick innovation into gear and allow New Zealand’s entrepreneurial spirit to flourish. Instead, we are seeing another case of business leaders preaching ‘free market for thee but not for me’.

Revealed: Health Quality and Safety Commission continues rebrand madness, blowing nearly $365,000

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Health Quality and Safety Commission have spent $363,745 on a rebrand including $316,250 on a new website and $47,495 on a logo change (including GST).

These changes occurred during 2022 and 2023 which, according to the Commission ‘reflect how we see ourselves’.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager Connor Molloy commented:

“Somehow the commission and others have missed the memo of moving towards the standardised government branding and continued moving to new identities. Government agencies don’t need bespoke brands, by definition they aren’t competing with anyone.

“Taxpayers should rightly be mad that during peak inflation government agencies continued to splash around cash on virtue-signalling pet projects rather than sense-check every dollar spent that was first ripped out of the hands of struggling families.

“Taxpayers simply cannot afford flashy rebrands of all of our government departments every couple of years. The Government should require agencies to revert to standardised branding and stay that way – forever. We again offer up our support in redesigning these logos free of charge.”

Ratepayer Victory! Wellington pulls out of $32 million corporate handout

Commenting on the news that Wellington City Council have decided to not go ahead with the $32 million Reading Cinema deal, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:
 
“Whatever spin the mayor tried to put on it, it was clear from the get-go that shoving $32 million into the pockets of Reading’s multinational owners was a horrifically raw deal for ratepayers.
 
“It shouldn’t have taken 18 months for someone to cotton on to the fact that throwing tens of millions down the drain whilst pipes leak and community services are slashed possibly wasn’t prudent. But at least they got there in the end.
 
“Wellingtonians would be wise to remember which councillors came out to bat for them and which were happy to put corporate interests ahead of the city’s needs.”

Taxpayer Update: 18 months to assess whether water tank = fire risk 🤦‍♂️ | Tauranga's grifters lobby to stay on gravy train 🚂 | Labour's 182 questions about the Taxpayers' Union 🤨

Click here to subscribe to the Taxpayers' Union newsletter

 

The geniuses at MBIE take 18 months to officially decide that a water tank is not a fire risk 💦 🔥

The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) took 18 long months of umming and ahing to come to the bold conclusion that a water tank on a Kāinga Ora development did not – in fact – present a fire risk.

Peter Hird, MBIE's Principle Advisor eventually made an official determination that:

 "[It is] very unlikely a fire could occur in the tank given that the plastic tank would contain water and air"

No .... Sherlock!

Remember too that these are the same people who are desperately trying to justify their own bureaucrats. I mean, without them, how would we know water tanks are 'very unlikely' to burst into flames?

Sticky government-driven inflation is still punishing Kiwis 📈 😳

Stats NZ have published the latest inflation figures showing that prices have increased by 4% in the last year – making it now 34 months since it was last inside the Government's target range of 1 to 3%.

While the rate of price increases is slowing a bit, domestic inflation – the inflation that is driven up by the huge increases in Government spending – is still running red hot. The latest figure of 5.8% is just as bad as it was last quarter.

The difference between "tradable" inflation (i.e. what we get in from the rest of the world) and "non-tradables" (domestic) suggests that while the rest of the world will start to lower interests rates, New Zealand is in for a longer hangover. That's not good.

Those living paycheck to paycheck – especially those facing higher mortgage repayments – will feel it. We say Nicola Willis needs to go much further and faster to tighten the Government's own belt in next month's budget to get domestic inflation back under control.

Misinformation on public service 'cuts' continues 📰 🔄

Speaking of belt tightening, the reporting on the Government's Public Service 'cuts' through Wellington-tinted lenses continues to be one-sided.

From the wilful misinterpretation of back-office savings as 'stabbing at the heart of front-line'  to the unquestioning regurgitation of public sector union talking points, most of the reporting on the Public Service reductions fails to put the savings in context. 

Let's be very clear – it's not nice to lose your job and most of these public servants are in this position through no fault of their own.

But let's get the story straight.

The Government's 'cuts' to the bureaucracy are not drastic. In, fact, they are small fry when compared with the astronomical staffing increases we saw under six years of Labour.

👆Mr Luxon is miles off his pre-election promise to cut 14,000 bureaucrats👆

And the Government knows it. In the run up to the election, Christopher Luxon and National were banging on about how we had seen very little in return for an extra 14,000 (now 18,000) bureaucrats since 2017.

"We're spending a billion more each and every week, when you think we've added 14,000 more bureaucrats to Wellington and yet on the economy, on health, on housing, on crime and on education everything is going backwards, the outcomes are going backwards." (Luxon 2022)

But on current plans Luxon isn't dismissing anywhere near that.

In fact, on current projections, the Public Service won't event be stripped back beyond what it was at the election back in October.

Sign the petition: Save the money, sack the bureaucrats 🖊 ✖️🧑‍💼️

The Government was elected to take a chainsaw to the bloated back-office bureaucracy. Instead, the Mr Luxon's barely applied a bonsai pruner.

Sack the Bureaucratic

If you agree that Luxon needs to stick to his promise and sack the 14,000 extra bureaucrats that were hired under Labour's last minute hiring bonanza, take 30 seconds to sign our petition calling on the Government to go further and faster with their staffing reductions to cut the waste and balance the books.

👉 Sign the petition calling on Luxon and his Government to sack Labour's 14,000 extra public servants 👈

Labour tackling the real issue on voters' minds: the Taxpayers' Union 🧐

After a slow start from the now opposition Labour Party, we're happy to report that its MPs are making good use of Parliamentary written questions to Ministers. Written questions are the primary way MPs hold the Government to account and elicit detailed information out of Ministers and their officials.

But, it seems Labour's political radar about what New Zealanders are most worried about right now is a little off. Cost of living crisis? Tax relief? Budget deficits? Infrastructure? Government debt? No, no, no, the real issue deserving His Majesty's Loyal Opposition's attention is none other than the Taxpayers' Union!

No less than sixteen Labour MPs have taken the time to file 182 questions about the Taxpayers' Union since they've been in opposition. That's more than one question about the Taxpayers' Union every day since the election! 

While we're flattered that Chris Hipkins and Labour are taking so much interest in the work we do, we do have to ask ... 

Next time, save the money, pick up the phone 📞 

We know Chris Hipkins' staff read our emails (hi, Chris! 👋) so next time, rather than waste hundreds of hours of officials' time, just ask us for the information! What we say to Ministers is no different to what we say publicly (our "secret agenda" is no secret: Lower Taxes, Less Waste, More Accountability) and we'll be more than happy to provide any information you like!

With Labour so interested in our work, (and wanting to see every communication our supporters have with Ministers) your humble Taxpayers' Union has decided to cut out the middle man and will now copy Labour into our advocacy emails sent to Ministers.

In fact, we've starting doing it already. Willie Jackson wanted to know what we've been saying to Melissa Lee about media bailouts, hoping to 'catch us out'. Well, we've copied him into the 7,000+ emails sent by our supporters to Melissa Lee on the subject. You're welcome, Willie! 💁‍♂️ 

Unelected Commissioners use ratepayer money to lobby for postponement of democracy (and keep cushy jobs!) 🙄

Earlier this month, we slammed Tauranga City Council Commission Chair, Anne Tolley for some disturbing comments she made on an interview with Mike Hosking, where she warned against going back to a democratically elected council as it would bring back the 'old guard' and make the city go 'backwards.'

Apparently the good people of Tauranga might vote for the wrong people! 😱

Anne Tolley also said she would 'personally'  prefer a 'hybrid model' of democracy, where the council would be made up of elected representatives and unelected commissioners (i.e. her!).

Her reasoning: because "at times [democracy] fails."

Yes – you read that right.

But it turns out that wasn't even just her 'personal' wish. In fact, according to a letter sent by the Commission to the Local Government Minister late last year, all four unelected commissioners have been pushing hard to make this hybrid version of democracy a reality.

In that letter they even refer to a report they commissionedwhich cost local ratepayers $32,817that advocates a hybrid model with a 60/40 split for the next two elections, prolonging the return to a fully elected council until 2028!

What rubbish. There is no such thing as a hybrid democracy. You either have democracy, or you don't. Tauranga residents have waited long enough for a return to accountability and they shouldn't have to wait any longer.

Anne Tolley's $1,800-a-day gravy train needs to be derailed 🚂

While Anne 'unelected' Tolley might still be drinking Nanaia Mahuta's 'anything-but-democracy' cool-aide (and savouring the $1800-a-day she's being paid), we were delighted to see one of Tauranga's local National MPs Tom Rutherford rule out Tolley's ridiculous proposal.

Tauranga-based ACT MP, Cameron Luxton, has also previously called for the commissioners powers to be limited in the run up to July's election. It's not too late, Simeon...

2024 student interns: applications now open  🧑‍💻️ 🆕

Rhys Budge

Do you know any bright young students based in Wellington who might be interested escaping the left-wing groupthink that are our universities?

We're looking for our next intake of part-time student interns.

The internships  are varied as we like to play to people's strengths and interests. On any given day, our interns:

🔸 File information requests with government departments to expose wasteful spending

🔸 Help draft media releases for our spokespeople on breaking news stories;

🔸 Write briefing papers or short reports on public policy issues;

🔸 Create video and other content for our social media platforms;

🔸 Man our stands at grassroots events such as Fieldays and A&P shows

If you know someone with a keen interest in politics, public policy, or economics who wants to gain some valuable experience working in New Zealand's best union, send them our way.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with Mike Butterick 🎙 🧈

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Connor sat down with newly elected National MP, Mike Butterick

Mike, a farmer and farming advocate, was elected as the MP for Wairarapa in the 2023 General Election. He has previously been involved with Federated Farmers and was the spokesperson for 50 Shades of Green, a lobby group addressing forestry encroachment on farmland. Mike is also active in community organisations, including serving as a director of Wings over Wairarapa. Passionate about education, his constituents, and the rural sector, Mike advocates strongly for local, community-led solutions to various issues.

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Donate

That's it for this week,

Yours aye,

Callum

Callum Signature

Callum Purves
Head of Campaigns
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union 

 

Media Mentions:

Democracy Project Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?

Kiwiblog Fire and Emergency costs blowout

1News A thousand govt jobs cut in 'black day' for public service

Newsroom New Zealand’s crisis of confidence

Chris Lynch Media RNZ spends $71,000 on Facebook ads while supporting bill to regulate digital giants

Telegraph UK What New Zealand’s U-turn on smoking ban could mean for Rishi Sunak

Hawke’s Bay App Taxpayers’ Union slams eye-watering Hastings rates hike

The Listener Danyl McLauchlan: Politicians may not like the daily news media, but they’ll miss them when they’re gone

RNZ Political commentators Dale Husband and Liam Hehir (10:35)

Press Releases:

NEW POLL: Strong support for inflation adjustment of tax brackets to end the stealth tax

Government spending still driving cost of living skyward

REVEALED: RNZ’s Hypocrisy Over Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill

Christchurch City Council's stadium obsession needs to stop

Taxpayers’ Union Slams Eye-Watering Hastings Rates Hike

Rates Increase Shocker – Gore Residents Face Rates Hike Of 21.4%

RMA Changes Welcome, But Must Go Further

RMA changes welcome, but must go further

Responding to the Government’s announcement of changes to resource management laws, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“These changes are a step in the right direction in terms of removing ideological and unworkable red tape but they don’t go far enough.

“While we welcome the removal of the requirement on consent applicants to demonstrate compliance with the Te Mana o te Wai hierarchy of obligations, the Government must go further and remove all references to Te Mana o te Wai altogether.

“Te Mana o te Wai is vague and ill-defined, going so far as to mean different things in different parts of the country, depending on the local iwi or hāpu. We have serious concerns about councils continuing to waste money on work to uphold Te Mana o te Wai, even it it is not required by law. We are writing to Minister Bishop seeking clarification on a number of issues related to this and urge his Government to issue a direction to councils halting all work on this issue."

Rates Increase Shocker – Gore residents face rates hike of 21.4%

Responding to reports that Gore District Council is proposing to hike rates by 21.4%, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Sam Warren, said:

“Clearly something is very broken for councils across New Zealand.

“A culture of historic wasteful spending throughout local government, combined with soaring costs, has resulted in an proposed average increase of 15 percent across the county. Sadly, Gore residents are well above this average.

“The chickens are coming home to roost, and as always, it is ratepayers having to foot the bill.  The council must now take a ruthless approach to cutting spending, eliminating any expenditure that is not on core services in order to protect ratepayers from an unaffordable rates hike in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”

MPs in Depth: Mike Butterick

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with National Party MP, Mike Butterick. 

Mike, a farmer and farming advocate, was elected as the MP for Wairarapa in the 2023 General Election. He has previously been involved with Federated Farmers and was the spokesperson for 50 Shades of Green, a lobby group addressing forestry encroachment on farmland. Mike is also active in community organisations, including serving as a director of Wings over Wairarapa. Passionate about education, his constituents, and the rural sector, Mike advocates strongly for local, community-led solutions to various issues.

Mike's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Mike on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsiHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

MPs in Depth: Andrew Hoggard

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Connor sat down with ACT Party MP, Andrew Hoggard. 

Andrew is a Manawatu farmer, has an Agricultural Economics degree and, prior to entering Parliament, was the President of Federated Farmers. Andrew has stepped straight into the role as Minister for both Biosecurity and Food Safety along with a number of associate portfolios. In this interview, Andrew discusses his life before politics, the issues he sees facing rural New Zealand and an insight into his experiences working in Canada where the dairy sector operates very differently with significant government control and intervention. 

Andrew's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Andrew on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsiHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

Taxpayers’ Union slams eye-watering Hastings rates hike

Responding to reports that Hastings District Council is set to hike rates by 25 percent, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“We get that cyclone recovery and investing in resilient infrastructure will obviously be front of mind but the Council must ensure that it does not make the process more painful than it needs to be by using the cyclone as a shield to justify eye-watering rates hikes when there is still plenty of fat to trim.

“Many families are still dealing with the effects of the cyclone too. Hiking rates by an eye-watering 25% is simply unthinkable. With the council spending $9 million more on staff salaries compared to 2019 and more than a quarter of its staff earning above $100,000 per year, there is plenty of room for back office savings rather than heaping extra costs onto struggling ratepayers.

“After doing everything possible to cut back the size of the rates hike, the council must ensure that every cent goes into core service delivery, rather than expensive vanity projects like its recent $70,000 logo redesign.

Christchurch City Council's stadium obsession needs to stop

Christchurch City Council's stadium obsession needs to stop

Responding to Christchurch City Council’s dilemma on what to do about their $34.2m stadium streets project, given that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) have not confirmed whether they will provide $13m in funding for the project, Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman Alexander Murphy said:

“This stadium has already burdened Christchurch ratepayers enough, with its ridiculous delays and enormous budget blowouts. These extra nice-to-haves are clearly unaffordable, and represent nothing more than just wasteful gold-plating.

“Christchurch ratepayers have only just been slapped with a double–digit rates hike and are being warned of more to come. Any responsible Council should be focussed on getting that figure down by any means necessary – including scrapping needless vanity projects like this.”

“This upgrade is clearly not a priority for NZTA, who aren’t even convinced they’ll be able to hold up their side of the bargain come July, so why should it be a priority for the Council? Potentially opening up ratepayers to further costs going forward by ploughing ahead here would be ludicrously irresponsible.”

REVEALED: RNZ’s hypocrisy over Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that Radio New Zealand (RNZ) spent $71,842.53 on Facebook advertising over the past 12 months, despite earlier this year coming out in support of the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which would force the likes of Facebook to pay media companies when users share links to domestic news content.

Responding to these revelations, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“RNZ cannot simultaneously argue that the sharing of their content online is bad for business while at the same time seeing so much benefit in social media promotion of their content that they spend tens of thousands of dollars on paid promotion. This blatant contradiction shows their calls for government intervention are nothing more than a shameless money grab.

“RNZ’s endorsement of the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill suggests they think platforms like Facebook and Google exploit New Zealand’s media landscape. RNZ’s Facebook ad spending shows they know that just isn’t true.

“It appears what RNZ are really upset about is the fact that we are now in the 21st century, so New Zealanders can access news from almost anywhere in the world. Kiwis are turning away from a Government-owned media that they simply don’t enjoy or trust anymore.

“This rort would just lead to a re-run of the farce in Canada where social media sites pulled access to news. Scrambling for handouts and bailouts isn’t the answer to RNZ’s unwillingness to innovate.”

Government spending still driving cost of living skyward

Responding to today’s release of the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Domestic inflation is still punishing Kiwis, with non-tradeable inflation – the aspect most affected by reckless and inflationary government overspending – still sitting stubbornly high at 5.8%.

“Public spending has risen 84% in six years, and you only need to look at your bills at the end of the week to see the effect this has had on the price of household essentials.

“This is proof if ever she needed it that Nicola Willis must go further and faster in reining in the waste in Wellington. Struggling families need to see serious cuts to spending in the Budget next month, and it's long past time the 18,000 extra bureaucrats had their bubble burst.”

NEW POLL: Strong support for inflation adjustment of tax brackets to end the stealth tax

NEW POLL: Strong support for inflation adjustment of tax brackets to end the stealth tax

A new Taxpayers’ Union — Curia poll has revealed that New Zealanders – at a ratio of five to one – support inflation adjustment of income tax brackets. 67% of respondents supported inflation adjustments while just 13% were opposed. The remainder were unsure.
 
There was majority support across every demographic (gender, age, area, economic status, and preferred political party) with the exception of Te Pāti Māori voters, where there was still a plurality of support.
 
Voters were asked: “As welfare benefits automatically increase with inflation, would you support or oppose a law so that income tax thresholds also adjust for inflation, so that someone whose income increases in line with inflation doesn’t end up paying proportionally more income tax than previously?”
 
The full polling report can be found here.
 
Commenting on the poll, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:
 
“Despite stagnant real wages, bracket creep is dragging New Zealanders into higher and higher tax brackets. This inflation tax reaches deeper into working Kiwis’ pockets, doubling down on the impact inflation is already having on the cost of living.
 
“With indexation supported by a majority across all demographics, it’s evident that it’s only politicians standing in the way of common-sense tax reform.
 
“While benefits, student loan living costs, and superannuation are adjusted for inflation – along with many other taxes that bolster the government coffers – politicians are far less inclined to take the same approach if it means putting an end to the inflation-driven gravy train.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:
The scientific poll was conducted by Curia Market Research and commissioned by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. As is well known, but for full disclosure, David Farrar co-founded the Taxpayers' Union and previously served on its board. He is also a Director of Curia Market Research Ltd.
 
The Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll was conducted from Tuesday 02 April to Thursday 04 April 2024. The median response was collected on Wednesday 3 April 2024. The sample size was 1,000 eligible New Zealand voters: 800 by phone and 200 by online panel. The sample selection for the phone panel is from those who are contactable on a landline or mobile phone selected at random from 15,000 nationwide phone numbers plus a random selection from an online panel (that complies with ESOMAR guidelines for online research). The results are weighted to reflect the overall voting adult population in terms of gender, age, and area. Based on this sample of 1,000 respondents, the maximum sampling error (for a result of 50%) is +/- 3.1%, at the 95% confidence level. Results for sub-groups such as age and area will have a much higher margin of error and not seen as precise.

Taxpayer Update: MPs set to get monster pay hike🍾👯‍♂️ | New Report: Up in Smoke 😱 | Luxon gets into spat with trade unions ✊

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It's been another busy week. More complaints from the media of "public service cuts" without giving the context that growth in recent years has been many times more, the team has exposed yet another expensive government rebrand, and we expose the tax hike on insurance most people have never heard of.

Remuneration body set to whack up MPs' pay 🥸

Backbench MPs look set to pocket thousands more dollars this year if media speculation on the soon-to-be-announced determination by the Remuneration Authority proves correct.

Late last year, we wrote to (and met with) the Remuneration Authority to make the case for freezing MPs' pay until cost-of-living crisis has ended with inflation and government spending back under control.

With three times the median wage already the 'base' salary for the lowest ranking MPs (many most of us have never heard of), it will come as a slap in the face to those struggling to make ends meet. Contrary to what they'll have you believe, our MPs are actually already well paid compared to overseas legislators, especially when you take into account our relative decline in GDP per capita.

Throw in all the extra perks like free accommodation, tax-free allowances, and taxpayer-funded meals, and a backbench MP is earning being paid more than $200,000 as it is.

When most households are being forced to cut back on the nice-to-haves, why should our political class be any different?

Sign the petition: Freeze MPs pay 🖊 🧊 💰

More than 16,000 taxpayers have signed our petition against a tone-deaf increase in MPs' pay. 

👉 Sign our petition against MP pay hikes here 👈

🦸 A Taxpayer Hero? Nicola Willis says she doesn't want pay rise 🚫 💰 ⬆️ 

Blue Chris and Red Chris are both dodging the question on whether MPs deserve a pay raise – saying it should be left up to the independent Remuneration Authority (they know what's coming!)

But Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, has nailed her colours to the mast, saying she "does not want" a pay rise, and would feel "really, really, really uncomfortable" if she was offered one. She's not the only one.

As the Minister holding the purse strings, she more than anyone knows that a big bump in MPs' salaries now would be completely unjustified. We hope are sure that when the Remuneration Authority makes its decision, she will do the right thing and refuse to take the increase. 

Callaghan Innovation's $173,000 website makeover 💅 💸

The Taxpayers' Union has uncovered yet another rebranding splurge this time from one of the Government's R&D (and corporate welfare) funding agencies.

They spent a cool $173,000 on a website and logo makeover and, as far as we can tell, the only difference between the old and new website is a different font, a few new pictures and a slightly different shade of green!

Oh, and it's become much harder to find how they've spent your money and who they've given taxpayer-funded grants to...

And this rebrand happened was signed off just as the new Government was being sworn into office and before it had a chance to implement its cost-saving targets. Hmm... 🤔

TRUTH REVEALED: Public Service staffing savings are a drop in the ocean 🤏 

From the media's doomsday reporting on the Government's Public Service savings, you'd think these poor departments were being stripped to the bone.

In fact, when you compare the proposed staffing cuts so far to the enormous hiring spree we saw under the last government, taxpayers should instead be asking why the new Government's savings are so small.

☝️Some missing context behind the Government's "heartless" public service cuts☝️

Since 2017, the number of public servants has grown by a staggering 39%, or an extra 18,477 full-time roles. And, in just the final 6 months of last year, it grew by 2,582.

Yet according to RNZ's calculations, the total number of jobs expected to be culled is just 1,648.

That won't even get numbers back down to what they were just a few months ago! Wellington's 'day of reckoning' is yet to come...

Junior staff hung out to dry as executives scramble to save themselves🕴💰

Meanwhile, we're also hearing that managers at the Public Service are saving their own skins by selling out their junior employees.

Make no mistake, bureaucrats in all roles desperately need stripping back. But if there is one area that needs an overhaul more than any other – it's bloated management.

Just take a look at the figures 👇

Public Service departments have hired an extra 2,725 managers since June 2017. That’s a 51% increase in just 6 years! For context, the NZ population only grew roughly 8.8% in size over that same period.

That means the Government's core departments have been hiring managers at nearly six times the rate of the population increase.

As we've said time and again, if the Government wants to ensure that these savings are made in the right places, then Ministers must lead the charge themselves and not abdicate responsibility to the very chief executives responsible for the hiring bonanza. 

NEW REPORT: Fire and Emergency levy hikes are unjustified 🔥 💵

Taxpayers' Union Economist, Ray Deacon, has taken Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) to task with an explosive new report revealing significant failings within FENZ and questioning the need for a 12.8% hike to levies on insurance used to fund it.

Taxpayers were promised extensive benefits and savings from a fire service mega-merger but Ray's analysis shows that the promised savings have gone up in smoke. His key findings are:

🔥 Expenses have continued to increase significantly with the promised savings and efficiencies non existent. Total costs have blown out from $496.3 million in 2017/18 to $737.3 million in 2022/23 

🔥 Spending on consultants and professional fees has blown out. Since establishment, FENZ has exceeded its budget by, on average, 24% per year.

🔥 The 12.8% levy increase from 1 July 2024 is easily avoided, if FENZ got its costs under control.

🔥 No independent post-implementation review of the actual costs and benefits of the merger has occurred.

Ray and I have met with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Brooke van Velden, to share the report's findings and have called on her to stop the 1 July levy increase and commission an independent review into FENZ.

You can read Ray's full report here.

Luxon squares up against public-servant-loving trade unions 💥🥊

The Prime Minister came out swinging this week against both the Public Service Association (PSA) and the Cartel Council of Trade Unions (CTU) saying they "didn't seem to care about working New Zealanders anymore".

“If the PSA, or the CTU for that matter, actually cared about low- and middle-income workers, they would’ve come out in support of our tax relief plans that we’ve been talking about for the last two years"

We say the PM is bang on.

The CTU and the PSA consistently argue against tax relief that will benefit hundreds of thousands of working New Zealanders in favour of protecting a few hundred public servants in Wellington. 

Well, here at New Zealand's largest union, we stand with the PM. Delivering tax relief and culling the bloated Public Service bureaucracy is the morally right thing to do.

Even Paddy Gower doesn't think the media shouldn't get a bailout 🚫🗞💵

A new Auckland University of Technology report reveals that just one third of Kiwis still trust the news.

It's a sobering statistic, but not a surprising one. Many New Zealanders feel that news coverage doesn't tell all sides of the stories and is seen through a Wellington-centric lens. The fact that many media companies are still getting taxpayer funding through the Public Interest Journalism Fund doesn't help the perception. 

But TV3's Paddy Gower doesn't agree. When asked by Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB what he thought of people who had concerns about the political neutrality of the media, he said they were just a bunch of "Facebook keyboard warriors" who should "get stuffed".

However, he did have one moment of clarity:

"The media doesn't need a bailout. So, if anyone's talking about some sort of cash bailout, we don't need that. The media does need to survive commercially."

Much in the same way that the Government would never have been expected to prop up the DVD market when the internet became a much more accessible alternative, we shouldn't expect terrestrial media to be kept alive by taxpayers. 

We're hearing the Government is still looking at options to help out the likes of Newshub to keep them afloat. If you agree with Paddy that the Government should tell those wanting another media bailout to "get stuffed" (in more polite terms) click here to send Minister for Media and Communications an email.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with Andrew Hoggard 🎙🐗

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Connor sat down with newly elected ACT MP, Andrew Hoggard.

Andrew is a Manawatu farmer, has an Agricultural Economics degree and, prior to entering Parliament, was the President of Federated Farmers. Andrew has stepped straight into the role as Minister for both Biosecurity and Food Safety along with a number of associate portfolios. In this interview, Andrew discusses his life before politics, the issues he sees facing rural New Zealand and gives some insight into his experiences working in Canada where the dairy sector operates very differently with significant government control and intervention. 

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

That's it for this week,

Yours aye,

Callum

Callum Signature

Callum Purves
Head of Campaigns
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union 

Donate

 

Media Mentions:

NBR 
Callaghan Innovation spends $173,000 on rebranding as 30 jobs cut

The Post 
As Luxon struggles for connection, he should break out the compassion

Bassett, Brash and Hide 
PETER WILLIAMS: How can media survive?

The Post 
The political art of saving the media, or not

NZ Herald 
Exclusive poll: Who do Aucklanders fancy as their next mayor? Have your say

NZ Herald 
New poll finds majority of voters still want tax cuts

NZ Herald 
Winston Peters-Antony Blinken statement proves New Zealand is in the middle of a seismic foreign policy shift - Audrey Young

RNZ 
The week in politics: Targets, truants and MPs' pay pickle

Tova 
An Exclusive Interview with ScoMo

NewstalkZB
 The Huddle: Could Shortland Street be the latest program facing cuts?

The Platform 
What Do Kiwis Think of a Taxpayer-Backed Media Bailout?

Waatea News 
Claudette Hauiti | Radio Waatea Parliamentary Press Gallery Reporter

StuffAnatomy of a political misfire: How the PM’s accommodation supplement saga unfolded

Newstalk ZB 
Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on the Green Party's bump in the polls

Whaakata Maori 
Support for new coalition government drops - new poll

NewstalkZB News Fix 
Afternoon Edition: 09 April 2024

NZ Herald 
Lobby group claims Tauranga’s commission ‘trampling over local democracy’

Press Releases:
More Competition, Not Less, The Solution To Failing Councils

NEW POLL: Kiwis Want Nicola Willis To Hold Firm On Tax Relief

NEW POLL: New Zealanders Oppose Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts For Private Media Companies

Sky-High Interest Rates Show Kiwi Families Need Government To Show Some Fiscal Responsibility

Government Must Clamp Down Harder On Managerial Class With Public Service Cuts

NEW POLL: More Bad News For Centre-Right As Government Parties Drop In Support

MPs Must Not Take Pay Hike While Kiwis Go Backwards

Government KPIs Show Progress But Lack Ambition

Revealed: Callaghan Innovation Wastes Over $170,000 On Rebrand As Staff Call Out Job Cuts

New Report: Fire And Emergency Levy Increase Unjustified, Performance Review Needed

More competition, not less, the solution to failing councils

Responding to comments from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham on the prospect of Supercity-like deals in New Zealand, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Where there are savings to be found, councils should of course work together on service delivery to find efficiencies. But councils sitting in a big circle singing kumbaya isn’t going to stop the rot facing local government in New Zealand.

“Competition drives efficiency and progress. Councils need to be competing more on offering the best possible service at the best possible cost to their ratepayers.

“Bigger does not always equal better. Whilst New Zealanders across the country are still being slapped with double-digit rates hikes year after year, now is certainly not the time to be talking about removing councils’ incentives to improve.”

NEW POLL: Kiwis want Nicola Willis to hold firm on tax relief

A new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll has revealed that 53% of New Zealanders believe that the Government should continue to deliver the tax relief that was promised by the National Party during the election campaign. 29% of respondents thought that the tax relief should not proceed while 18% were unsure. 

There is majority or plurality of support for this proposal across all gender, age and area demographics. Supporters of the governing parties are strongly in favour of continuing with tax relief while Green voters are the most strongly opposed. 

Voters were asked: “The National Party's tax policy at the election promised to shift tax bracket thresholds to partially compensate for the effect of inflation. This would reduce the tax on full time workers from between $24 and $51 a fortnight depending on income. Proponents of the tax cuts say they will provide relief to families, while opponents say they are unaffordable. Do you think the Government should deliver the tax cuts that were in National's election policy?” The full polling report can be found here.

Commenting on the poll results, Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said: 

“Contrary to the prevailing narrative among the political commentariat, this poll demonstrates that Kiwis are strongly of the view that Nicola Willis should hold firm on the tax relief commitments National made during the election.

“Government spending has increased by 84 per cent since 2017 yet the quality of services continues to decline across the public sector. It’s the worst of both worlds: New Zealanders are paying more and getting less.

“Not only have Kiwis not had a tax break for 14 years but the failure to adjust income tax brackets for inflation has forced them to pay more and more of their wages in tax each year. The Government must deliver on its tax relief promises while going further and faster to cut back the bureaucratic bloat in Wellington.”

MEDIA SUMMARY STATEMENT:

Any media or other organisation that reports on this poll should include the following summary statement:

The poll was conducted by Curia Market Research Ltd for the NZ Taxpayers’ Union. It is a random poll of 1,000 adult New Zealanders and is weighted to the overall adult population. It was conducted by phone (landlines and mobile) and online between 2 April and 4 April 2024, has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1% and 5.6% were undecided on the party vote question. The full results are at www.taxpayers.org.nz/taxreliefpoll 
 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The scientific poll was conducted by Curia Market Research and commissioned by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. As is well known, but for full disclosure, David Farrar co-founded the Taxpayers' Union and previously served on its board. He is also a Director of Curia Market Research Ltd.

The Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll was conducted from Tuesday 02 April to Thursday 04 April 2024. The median response was collected on Wednesday 3 April 2024. The sample size was 1,000 eligible New Zealand voters: 800 by phone and 200 by online panel. The sample selection for the phone panel is from those who are contactable on a landline or mobile phone selected at random from 15,000 nationwide phone numbers plus a random selection from an online panel (that complies with ESOMAR guidelines for online research). 

The results are weighted to reflect the overall voting adult population in terms of gender, age, and area. Based on this sample of 1,000 respondents, the maximum sampling error (for a result of 50%) is +/- 3.1%, at the 95% confidence level. Results for sub-groups such as age and area will have a much higher margin of error and not seen as precise. 

The range for the reduction in tax paid by full time workers of between $24 and $51 a fortnight depending on income is taken from ‘Appendix C: Income Relief Tables’ on page 24 of National’s Back Pocket Boost policy document available here, which was confirmed as part of the coalition agreements with the ACT and NZ First parties. 

This poll should be formally referred to as the “Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll”.

NEW POll: New Zealanders oppose taxpayer-funded bailouts for private media companies

A Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll has revealed that 55% of New Zealanders are opposed to taxpayer money being used to fund struggling private media companies, with just 29% in support.

Labour voters were the only demographic in support of media bailouts (+7% net support), while those aged under 40 were split evenly. A majority or plurality in every other demographic opposed taxpayer-funded media bailouts.

Voters were asked “You may have heard reports about the proposed closure of Newshub. Would you support or oppose taxpayer money being used to fund struggling private media companies?” The full polling report can be found here.

Commenting on the poll, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“It comes as no surprise that taxpayers are unwilling to reach into their own pockets to fund media organisations that they are increasingly becoming disillusioned with.

“We know from our previous polling that taxpayer-funding of private media undermines perceptions of independence. With trust in the media already in free-fall, the worst thing the government could do is step in with taxpayer money to bail them out.
 
“All businesses must deliver a service of value to get money from their customers. If the government stumps up with taxpayer-money there is no incentive for these companies to change their business model into something consumers trust and value more.
 
“We should allow those companies that aren’t providing a service people want to fail so that new companies who do create value can take their place.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The scientific poll was conducted by Curia Market Research and commissioned by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. As is well known, but for full disclosure, David Farrar co-founded the Taxpayers' Union and previously served on its board. He is also a Director of Curia Market Research Ltd.

The Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll was conducted from Tuesday 02 April to Thursday 04 April 2024. The median response was collected on Wednesday 3 April 2024. The sample size was 1,000 eligible New Zealand voters: 800 by phone and 200 by online panel. The sample selection for the phone panel is from those who are contactable on a landline or mobile phone selected at random from 15,000 nationwide phone numbers plus a random selection from an online panel (that complies with ESOMAR guidelines for online research). The results are weighted to reflect the overall voting adult population in terms of gender, age, and area. Based on this sample of 1,000 respondents, the maximum sampling error (for a result of 50%) is +/- 3.1%, at the 95% confidence level. Results for sub-groups such as age and area will have a much higher margin of error and not seen as precise.

Sky-high interest rates show Kiwi families need Government to show some fiscal responsibility

Responding to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s decision to hold the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.5%, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“High interest rates stifle growth and punish Kiwi families. They’re being punished for runaway inflation driven by reckless overspending by a previous Government which had no concern for the effects its policies would have on hardworking people.

“Inflation has now been outside the target range for 34 consecutive months. The last Government fuelled the fire with wasteful spending for far too long, and the time to start getting the books back in the black has long since past.

“Unless this Government stops dragging its feet and starts getting serious about trimming back the fat in Wellington, Kiwi families are going to be doing it tough under both high inflation and crippling interest rates for many months to come.”

Government must clamp down harder on managerial class with Public Service cuts

Responding to concerns from public servants that managers seem to be ‘immune’ from staffing cuts, Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman, Alex Murphy, said:

"The whole point of the Government's spending cuts was to axe the back-office bureaucracy and prioritise frontline delivery, but by letting department heads put forward their own proposals on how these savings will play out, the executive class will no doubt continue to protect their own by hanging the junior staffers out to dry.

"But a simple look at the figures shows the problem doesn't just lie with the low-hanging fruit. In just the last 6 years, the number of managers across the Government's core departments has grown by a staggering 51% – that's almost twice the rate of social, health, and education workers and more than virtually every other job type. Instead of quietly shifting themselves away from the knife, Management should be first on the chopping block.

“As we've said time and again, letting department chief executives find and make these savings is like letting the foxes guard the hen house. If Ministers want to ensure that their cuts are being made in the right areas, then they should be the one's finding where to make them – it's as simple as that."

MPs in Depth: Carl Bates

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Jordan sat down with National Party MP for Whanganui, Carl Bates. 

Carl joined the Young Nats aged just 12 and less than 30 years later was elected to Parliament as a National MP. Prior to entering politics, Carl had an interesting and successful career from an incredibly young age. Aged just 18, he was appointed as an independent director at an aged care facility and at 22 was appointed as the acting chief executive of Quality Health New Zealand, managing to turn the failing organisation around. Carl is a chartered accountant, he also started his own professional services firm and served on a director and chairman on a range of small and large companies both in New Zealand and internationally.

Carl's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Carl on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsiHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

NEW POLL: More bad news for Centre-Right as Government parties drop in support

National is down on last month to 37.1% (-0.3 points) while Labour is up slightly to 25.7% (+0.4 points). The Greens take third place on 14.6% (+3.3 points) while ACT drops back to 7.2% (-2.8 points).

The smaller parties are NZ First on 6.3% (-1.1 points) and Te Pāti Māori on 4.6% (+2.1 points). 

For the minor parties, TOP is on 1.6%, Outdoors and Freedom is on 1.5%, Democracy NZ is on 0.3%, Vision NZ is on 0.2%, New Conservatives are on 0.2%, and the others combined were on 0.8%

This month's results are compared to the last month's Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll.

National is down one seat on last month to 47 while Labour is steady on 32. The Greens continue to rise, now on 18 seats (up three), while ACT has fallen to 9 seats (down four). NZ First is down one seat to 8 while Te Pāti Māori is unchanged on 6 seats. 

The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right of 64 seats is down six from last month while the Centre-Left has increased by three to 56 seats. 

On these numbers, National and ACT would require the support of NZ First to form a government. Given the higher vote for Te Pāti Māori in this poll, Parliament would have no overhang seats.

Christopher Luxon’s net favourability is down 2 points on last month to -7% while Chris Hipkins’s score is down 8 points to -6%. This is the first time a Labour leader has had a negative net favourability in the Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll. David Seymour is down 3 points to -11% while Winston Peters is down 6 points to -18%. 

More detailed results, including voters' top three issues, as well as National's lead over Labour on key voting topics are available on our website.

Taxpayer Update: Centre right down in new poll 📊 | Tax relief under threat? 😱 | Luxon's new action plan ✅

Click here to subscribe to the Taxpayers' Union newsletter

NEW POLL: Bad news for centre-right parties in in latest poll 📊

Christopher Luxon's coalition partners won't be overjoyed with their results in this month's hot-off-the-press Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll. Meanwhile, a boost for the centre-left comes mainly from increased support for the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, with Labour gaining no extra brownie points following Chris Hipkins's "everything on the table" announcement on tax policy.

Compared with last month's poll, National is down slightly to 37.1% (-0.3 points) while Labour is up slightly to 25.7% (+0.4 points). The Greens take third place on 14.6% (+3.3 points) while ACT is on less than half that, dropping back to 7.2% (-2.8 points), NZ First on 6.3% (-1.1 points), and Te Pāti Māori on 4.6% (+2.1 points). 

For the minor parties, our poll has TOP is on 2.1%, Outdoors and Freedom on 1.3%, Vision NZ on 0.8%, Democracy NZ is on 0.4%, and the rest combined is 1.5%.

Here is how these results would translate to seats in Parliament:

National is down one seat on last month to 47 while Labour is steady on 32. The Greens continue to rise with today's result translating to 18 seats (up three) while ACT has fallen to 9 seats (down four). NZ First is down one seat to 8 while Te Pāti Māori is unchanged on six seats. 

The combined projected seats for the centre-right of 64 seats is down six from last month. The combined seats for the centre-left has increased by three to 56 seats. On these numbers, National and ACT would require the support of NZ First to form a government. This assumes that all electorate seats are held. Given the higher support for Te Pāti Māori in this poll, Parliament would have no overhang seats. 

For favourability ratings, major voting issues, party best at dealing with particular issues, and to find out how to get access to our full polling reports (including geographic breakdowns), head over to our website.

Tax relief under threat? 😠

Just seven months ago, New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for a Government that would cut wasteful spending and deliver meaningful tax relief for Kiwis. 

So far, despite a few wobbles, Christopher Luxon and his team have largely stuck to the mandate. However, with the centre-left and media commentariat ramping up the rhetoric that "now is not the time to cut taxes",  some are predicting the Government will drop (or water down) Nicola Willis's promised tax relief package.

☝️The establishment doesn't want Kiwis catching a break from tax hikes ☝️

We say the 'pundits' need to get out more. Outside of Wellington's bubble, households are struggling, and 14 years of finance ministers not adjusting income tax thresholds for inflation now sees even those on minimum wage working 40 hours a week paying the 30% marginal income tax rate. How is that "kind" or fair? The Taxpayers' Union seems to be the only ones standing up for New Zealanders and injecting some balance into the debate. I made the case that we can – and must – have both responsible spending and tax relief in a column in The Post last week. Kiwis cannot afford for the Government to U-turn on this election promise for the sake of the "lanyard class" clutching their pearls at the idea of job losses in Wellington.

Economic and political gas lighting 🔥

The supposedly 'unbiased' pundits in the media will tell you that National's tax cuts are 'inflationary' and 'irresponsible'. The inflationary spending is coming from Wellington, not you! To blame inflation for not giving households a break only makes sense if you live in an ivory tower.

You may have seen Jordan's email yesterday that spells out exactly why it is so critical that the Government holds firm on tax relief. With the media hammering every effort being made to tackle waste, we think it time to remind Nicola Willis that the public is behind her.

If you haven't already, take just 30 seconds to email Nicola Willis telling her to hang in there and deliver her tax relief in the May budget.

>> Tell Ms Willis to stand firm and deliver tax relief <<

What gets measured, gets done ☑️

The Government has released the sequel to its "hundred day plan" – a 36-point "action plan" setting out its objectives for the next 3 months in office. Some say it's a gimmick, but if it works, who cares? We think it’s a pretty good list.

The main positive takeaways are that the Government is re-committing to deliver its personal income tax relief – for now at least (see above). It also plans to deliver a budget that cuts wasteful spending, slashes red tape, and sets better targets for improving our public services.

There's a few fishhooks buried in the detail, like its plan to introduce rego and fuel tax hikes, but overall, it looks like the coalition partners have largely got their heads in the right place.

Local democracy restored on Māori wards 🗳️

Also this week, in a big win for democracy, the Government announced it would repeal Labour's law that prevented local communities from having their democratic say on Māori wards on local councils.  

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we think it is wrong for politicians to decide the rules for how they are elected. The only people who should set these rules are the people they are elected to represent – the voters. The restoration of the ability for local communities to petition for a referendum provides an important safeguard against self-interested politicians screwing the scrum for their own political purposes.

But this shouldn't just apply to Māori wards. Voters should get to have their say on things like rural wards or new-fangled voting systems such as the Single Transferable Votes.

Wasteful councils think the solution to their spending problem is... more spending! 🤦‍♂️

Completely lost in the news cycle this week (there's a surprise!), big city councils Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga, and Hamilton, have been lobbying the Government to borrow even more! Apparently capping their net debt levels at 285% of their annual revenues wasn't high enough!

The very same politicians that are looking to hike rates up by as much us 20% this year claim that the only reason why they are pushing up against that debt cap, is because it isn't high enough.

But a quick look at the figures tells the real story.

The Infrastructure Commission noted in their briefing to the incoming minister earlier this year that plenty of public money is being spent. It's just not being spent very wisely:

"New Zealand currently spends around 5.5% of GDP on public infrastructure –  higher than Australia and the median OECD country. However, New Zealand ranks near the bottom 10% of high-income countries for the efficiency of that spend. New Zealand’s biggest infrastructure challenge is one of investment efficiency."

Maybe, just maybe, these councils' inability to deliver sufficient infrastructure doesn't have anything to do with a lack of funding, but instead a lack of prudent financial management?

Who's to say that even if the debt ratio gets raised, these same councils won't be coming back and asking for more. Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate, for example, doesn't even think that being able to borrow three times council revenue would be enough:

“We think there could be some movement in the debt ceiling. But even if we lifted it up to 300 percent, it really wouldn’t solve all our issues. We’re talking about a much bigger challenge.”

But then Southgate also thinks it is perfectly appropriate for her to spend $10,000 on an ANZAC day junket to Belgium at a time when she's asking ratepayers to cough up 19.9% more in rates, so perhaps she isn't the best person to ask when it comes to quality of spending?

More false choices thrown around by desperate public servants

If you've opened a newspaper over the past month, you might have seen the chatterati going berserk over hundreds of poor public servants losing their jobs thanks to the new Government's 'cruel' and 'heartless' cuts.

This week, the latest media meltdown occurred when a leaked document showed that department heads at the Ministry of Health chose to disestablish 135 roles over cutting executives' payhow dare they!

We agree – Executives at the Health Ministry should have their pay docked, or at least frozen to cut down on unnecessary spending, but that doesn't mean those extra jobs shouldn't be axed as well.

Recent figures from the Public Service Commission show that the Ministry of Health was hiring like crazy at the back end of last year – adding an extra full-time 78 roles to their roster in just 6 months!

No wonder most of those public servants don't want to go – they just got here.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth Series: Carl Bates 🎧🎙️

Carl Bates Pod

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Jordan sat down with National Party MP for Whanganui, Carl Bates. 

Carl joined the Young Nats aged just 12 and less than 30 years later was elected to Parliament as a National MP. Prior to entering politics, Carl had an interesting and successful career from an incredibly young age. Aged just 18, he was appointed as an independent director at an aged care facility and at 22 was appointed as the acting chief executive of Quality Health New Zealand, managing to turn the failing organisation around. Carl is a chartered accountant, he also started his own professional services firm and served on a director and chairman on a range of small and large companies both in New Zealand and internationally.

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

That's it for this week,

Yours aye,

Callum Callum Signature Callum Purves
Head of Campaigns

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union 

Donate

 

Media Mentions:

The Post
Government needs to hold steady on cuts to public service and taxes

Kiwiblog
Its wrong when they do it, but not me

Hawkes' Bay App
Hastings District Council salary costs are just under $40m

Newstalk ZB News Fix: Afternoon Edition – Public spending [1:30]

SunLive Commission 'trampling over democracy' – lobby group

NZ Herald It's time Luxon led like a CEO

NBR Callaghan Innovation spends $173,000 on rebranding as 30 jobs cut

NZ Herald Lobby group claims Tauranga’s commission ‘trampling over local democracy

Press Releases:

Government puts an end to Labour's hijack on democracy

Ratepayers need competent councils, not more debt

Taxpayers' Union welcomes Government's new action plan

Ratepayers, not unaccountable bureaucrats, should be responsible for heritage listings

MP expense information leaked to the Taxpayers' Union – will be made public tomorrow (April fools)

Unelected commissioners need to learn their place
 

New Report: Fire And Emergency Levy Increase Unjustified, Performance Review Needed

Revealed: Callaghan Innovation Wastes Over $170,000 On Rebrand As Staff Call Out Job Cuts

Government KPIs Show Progress But Lack Ambition

MPs Must Not Take Pay Hike While Kiwis Go Backwards

MPs must not take pay hike while Kiwis go backwards

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on MPs to put their money where their mouths are and implement a pay freeze rather than accept a taxpayer-funded pay hike at a time when many families are going backwards.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Every year, politicians reach deeper and deeper into New Zealanders’ pockets as inflation pushes people into higher tax brackets. This year, the money pulled out will be getting stuffed straight into the pockets of politicians.

“With the economy in recession, New Zealanders are quite literally getting poorer as there is less and less pie to be shared among more and more people. It is completely unjustified to accept a pay rise at a time when the economy is doing so poorly, government spending is out of control, and inflation is persistently high.

“Jacinda Ardern, to her credit, showed leadership when introducing a pay freeze for MPs in 2018 and actually cut MP pay during the pandemic. This Government must lead from the front when it comes to reducing spending, and a good first step would be to follow Ardern’s example and tighten their own personal belts.

“It’ll be a lot harder to get the public service on board with spending reductions if they see MPs continuing to ride the gravy train. When David Seymour points out that thousands-upon-thousands of bureaucrats are earning more than MPs, the answer should be to cut the number of overpaid execs rather than hiking MPs’ salaries.

“If politicians want more money in their own pockets, they should cut wasteful spending to deliver more tax relief that benefits all workers, including MPs.”

Government KPIs show progress but lack ambition

Responding to the release of nine Government key performance targets to be achieved by 2030, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Kiwis won’t need reminding that despite public spending jumping 84% since 2017, just about everything has got worse. Outcomes in Education, health, and law and order have all declined, not to mention our roads which are more pothole than tarseal.

“But the Government kicking the can down the road isn’t going to deliver the reform we need now. 2030 is two general elections away, which gives far too much time for the targets to slip out of sight. Kiwis can’t afford 6 more years of failing services.

“A tenth target seems to have slipped off Mr Luxon’s list. Grant Robertson’s Wellbeing Budget set a public spending target of 28.8% of GDP. With that figure now standing at 33.4%, National have no excuse not to harden up, show some ambition and hit at least the same target.”

Revealed: Callaghan Innovation wastes over $170,000 on rebrand as staff call out job cuts

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that Callaghan Innovation has blown $170,000 on a rebranding exercise at a time when taxpayer-funded agencies were being told to curb spending. Information obtained under the Official Information Act reveals that Callaghan Innovation - the body largely responsible for providing corporate welfare by picking winners - has spent $173,000 on website and logo changes.

The revelations come on the same day that staff are finding out about a wave of job cuts across the organisation.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Waste is embedded into Callaghan Innovation’s DNA with corporate welfare being a core tenet of their mission. It’s sadly no surprise to see them spending money like there’s no tomorrow.

“The rebrand includes a staggering $15,440 on t-shirts and more than $15,000 on just the logo. Taxpayers will continue to be stung with an ongoing annual $67,000 in website licensing fees.

“Chief Executive Stefan Korn must front up to taxpayers and explain why he’s wasting money on such an expensive rebrand at a time when agencies are being told to find savings. To make matters worse, the redesign is completely at odds with the Government’s public service guidelines that tell agencies to return to standardised government branding, not expensive makeovers every few years.

“Callaghan Innovation has always been one of the most wasteful taxpayer-funded organisations, sucking money away from productive sectors of the economy and having a punt on businesses that are otherwise unwilling or unable to attract private investment. The Government should cease all taxpayer funding for Callaghan Innovation and require it to fund itself by making commercial returns on its investment – if it can’t do that, it should be shut down.”

New Report: Fire and Emergency levy increase unjustified, performance review needed

New Report: Fire and Emergency levy increase unjustified, performance review needed

The Taxpayers’ Union is today releasing a report highlighting the significant failure of Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) to realise the expected efficiency gains following the 2017 mega-merger of fire services. The report concludes that the Minister of Internal Affairs should stop the 1 July levy increase and perform an independent examination into the operation, management and governance of FENZ.

Key findings of the report include:

> The efficiency gains, expected by the 2016 Cabinet, have not materialised;

> Expenses have continued to increase very significantly; and

> Spending on consultants and professional fees have grown substantially.

The report’s author, Ray Deacon, said:

“It has become clear across multiple Taxpayers’ Union reports that Fire and Emergency has failed to deliver on its promises and extracting an additional $85 million in levies from the domestic and commercial sectors of the economy across each of the next two years is simply unjustified, as this report explains.

“A demand for a further 5.2% increase lacks credibility.  Minister van Velden is right to question the need for this.  But the Minister needs to go much further.

> The 12.8% levy increase from 1 July 2024 needs to be stopped.

> A full and comprehensive independent post-implementation review of the actual costs and benefits of the merger needs to be undertaken.

“It is difficult to believe that Cabinet would have approved the merger if the actual expenditure was known.”

The full report, Up in Smoke: Is There a Failure of Governance by the Board of Fire & Emergency New Zealand and the Department of Internal Affairs?, can be read here. 

The Taxpayers’ Union has previously reported on our concerns with the merger and subsequent performance of Fire and Emergency New Zealand:

Government puts an end to Labour’s hijack on local democracy

Responding to the Government’s decision to restore binding referenda for local councils in determining whether or not to establish Māori wards, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager Connor Molloy, said:

“It is a fundamental right of voters to have the final say on the design of their electoral systems. Changing this without gaining the consent of the public via referendum undermines New Zealand’s proud history of democracy.

“Electors should be able to vote on, and veto, fundamental changes to their local voting system. It’s refreshing to see the new Government restoring this necessary democratic convention.

“While this is an important first step to restoring democratic decision-making, the Government must take steps to ensure that ratepayer funds are not used to screw the scrum one way or another. The voting system is a decision for voters and voters alone.”

Unelected commissioners need to learn their place

Responding to an interview from Anne Tolley on Newstalk ZB this morning, where the Tauranga City Council Commission Chair warned against going back to elected councillors as it would bring back the “old guard” and make the city go “backwards”, Alex Murphy, Spokesman for the Taxpayers' Union, said:

“It’s no surprise that an unelected official with the ability to make massively influential decisions doesn’t want there to be another election, but to suggest that Tauranga ratepayers would be better off without elected councillors is an absolute disgrace.

“Ratepayers have had to put up with over three years of unelected bureaucrats managing their money without any way of voting them out. This isn’t about whether the commissioners are doing a better job than their dysfunctional elected predecessors, this is about ensuring that democracy is upheld, and the people of Tauranga get their rightful say.

“If Anne Tolley and the other commissioners believe they are running the city well, they should stand for election and put their case to the voters rather than trampling over local democracy.”

Ratepayers need competent councils, not more debt

Responding to calls by councils including Wellington, Hamilton and Tauranga for their debt caps to be raised, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Sometimes it makes sense to use debt to spread the cost of an investment over time. But neither blown-out staff budgets nor wasting hundreds of millions on unwanted vanity projects like the Wellington Town Hall justify raising the debt ceiling.

“The argument that ratepayers need to be lumbered with more debt to tackle the infrastructure deficit just doesn’t hold water. Despite spending more than the OECD median on infrastructure, New Zealand is near the bottom 10% in terms of the bang-for-buck we get from every dollar spent.

“The issue isn’t lack of money, it’s lack of competence. Bureaucracy and red tape get in the way of upgrading our infrastructure, and councils serious about future-proofing need to pull out the big scissors and cut these obstacles out the way.”

Taxpayers’ Union welcomes Government’s new action plan

Taxpayers’ Union welcomes Government’s new action plan

Responding to the Government’s 36-point action plan for the second quarter, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Alex Murphy, said:

“It's refreshing to see the Coalition sticking to their guns on the issues Kiwis voted them in on, like delivering tax relief, cutting wasteful spending, and setting objective targets for improving our public services.

"And there's some other big wins too, like slashing red tape on the rental market, reversing the ban on offshore mining, and finally taking steps to give Chris Hipkins' wasteful pet project, Te Pūkenga, the boot.

"The new GPS is also a step in the right direction, focussing on roads maintenance and investment over walking and cycling, but the Government can go further here to stop the need for rego hikes and new fuel taxes from 2026.

"There's still a few hairy bits, like adding even more regulation to sale of vapes, but all in all, this new quarterly outlook is largely a step in the right direction." 

Ratepayers, not unaccountable bureaucrats, should be responsible for heritage listings

Responding to calls from Wellington City Council to be able to delist heritage buildings by a simple majority vote, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Ratepayers are on the hook for paying to preserve heritage buildings, and so it should be ratepayers deciding what is worth protecting.

“The current heritage framework has locked Wellington ratepayers into forking out up to $4,000 per household just for the Town Hall revamp alone. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, and with dozens of other heritage liabilities across the city, that’s clearly not sustainable.

“The Taxpayers’ Union has long called for councils to be able to vote on delisting buildings. As rates continue to spiral, it’s refreshing to see Wellington City Council finally acknowledging the source of some of its financial woes.” 

MP expense information leaked to the Taxpayers’ Union – will be made public tomorrow

The Taxpayers’ Union has been leaked five years of MPs expense information up to early 2021 following a public request for data on how taxpayers’ money is being spent, reportedly available to alleged Chinese-backed hackers, but not to New Zealanders.
 
“We don’t know who used a secure channel to anonymously provide us with this data, but it appears to be legitimate,” says a Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Jordan Williams.  “As far as we can see there is no information that has national security implications, but it will certainly have political ones.”

“Although many of those individuals this data relates to are no longer MPs, questions will no doubt be asked. Home entertainment systems, leather recliner furniture, $1000 Apple Airpod Max, animal houses, movie rentals – the similarities with the UK expenses scandal are chilling. It demonstrates that self-interested spending thrives where there is no sunshine.”
 
“MPs have voted themselves special protections from transparency laws. They spend our money on themselves and their offices, but unlike nearly all other parts of government, those picking up the tab haven’t been able to see where it is going. That’s about to change.”
 
“It is a disgrace that this information has come to us from an anonymous source, rather than through legal channels. This is similar to the UK, where similar information was leaked to The Daily Telegraph and The TaxPayers' Alliance."

"Clearly the law will need to change going forward so that we can be assured this isn’t still going on.”
 
The 2.3gigabytes of information is made up of spreadsheets, PDFs of invoices, and expense claims. The Taxpayers' Union will make public the information tomorrow at midday, at expense-scandal.nz. A media conference will be held at the same time on the steps of the Chinese Embassy in Wellington.
 
Until that time, no further comment will be made as our staff and volunteers work through the information, prepare it for public release, and build the website to host the cache of information. 

Taxpayer Update: Book your Airbnb before Monday 🗓️ | Robertson's Regrets 🤦‍♂️ | Handout #5 for ski field ⛷️💸

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Reminder to book your 2025 holiday before Monday! App Tax delivered in 36 hours 📲🏠

Scrap the App Tax

This April Fool's Day, don't let the joke be on you! The App Tax (Labour's idea that National promised to scrap) will see the cost of Ubers and Airbnbs, Bookabach, and other online platforms increase their prices by as much as 15%. So if you're planning a family getaway for later in the year, book now to avoid Grant Robertson's Nicola Willis' App Tax.

Come Monday, GST will be slapped on the micro-business mom-and-pop bach or spare bedroom rental providers and part-time Uber drivers who currently fall below the $60,000 GST registration threshold.

This App Tax-grab was never about the multinational providers like Airbnb (they already pay GST). But that's who Wellington want you to think this tax is all about, despite IRD being clear: the tax is on the little guy trying to make ends meet.

It's time for tax relief 💸

This week the Nicola Willis released the 2024 Budget Policy Statement. BPSs essentially set out the framework the Government will take to tax and spending decisions as it prepares its May budget.

The fiscal challenges facing the coalition Government are well known: delivering promised tax relief; curbing Grant Robertson's unsustainable legacy of deficits (the Government Debt Clock is close to being blown to bits); reducing public sector wasteful spending; and ramping up infrastructure delivery.

And this impossible matrix of priorities has to be achieved in a period of stagflation (an economy in recession but with high inflation/interest rates). Ouch.

Budget Policy Statement

Perhaps as a result of the conflicting priorities, this year's document is lighter on on detail than usual.  But two points jump out:

1.The scale of the Government's spending problem is even worse than previously known:

Between 2016/17 and 2023/24 (forecast), core Crown expenses have grown 84 per cent, compared to a 52 per cent increase in nominal GDP and a 66 per cent increase in core Crown revenue. 

While tax revenue has been growing well ahead of New Zealand's economy, Wellington's spending has totally blown out. The result: unbelievable rates of borrowing plug the difference. 

2. Even Wellington's boffins are recognising the harm of inflation dragging Kiwis into higher tax brackets and forcing workers to pay more tax each year on the same 'real' income:

Delivering meaningful tax reductions to provide cost of living relief to New Zealanders, who have seen no change in personal income tax rates and thresholds since 2010.

The inflation tax costs the average Kiwi $2,500 a year 🔺💰

Inflation Tax

The failure to adjust tax brackets since 2010 means that someone on the median salary of $65,749 is now paying $2,496 more in tax each year than they would have done had tax bracket thresholds kept pace with inflation in the same way that we do for payments to beneficiaries or superannuitants. The average worker's pay buys less, but is taxed more! 

The inflation tax

If you're wanting some more bad news this Easter weekend, we've created you an online inflation tax calculator to see how the Government's failure to adjust tax thresholds to inflation is costing you.

>> Calculate how it affects you <<

And don't expect National's promised tax relief to ride to the rescue. National's so-called promised 'tax cuts' only compensate for two of the 13 years of stealth tax increases!  A step in the right direction, but hardly the 'right wing' slash and burn the media would have you believe!

Speaking of the media bemoaning "cuts" 👀

Isn't it weird the way media don't provide context to scary stories about the nasty Government reducing jobs? Here's Newshub's angle about the very important front line back office agency you'd probably never have heard of had it not been for their $40k farewell parties: the Ministry of Pacific Peoples.

Newshub tweet

As a well known Taxpayers' Union supporter put it: Oh man how will the Ministry for Pacific People cope with a 50% reduction in staff?

Here's some context not included in the Newshub reporting:

Staff numbers over time

And media wonder why the public's trust is falling?

Ruapehu: Throwing good money after bad, after bad, after bad, after bad ⛷️🔥

From the déjà vu file, the Taxpayers' Union has again been the ski lift party pooper in calling out the Government's yet-again 'last bailout' announcement to gift $7 million to Ruapehu Alpine Lifts' Whakapapa ski field. This is the fifth multi-million-dollar taxpayer bailout in the last 18 months alone.

Even with the $27 million bung in the last two years to try to make the field commercially viable and able to pay its debts, it still isn't. 

Despite claims that these handouts are necessary to save jobs in the region, corporate welfare shifts money from productive sectors of the economy into unproductive ones. Rather than save jobs, here it's more likely saving the bankers who lent to the ski field operator and risk the company going bust. But other ski fields around New Zealand successfully run on a commercial basis without taxpayer bailouts. Maybe it's time to let the company fold and get a new team in to have a go?

Our Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, spoke to Newshub about why corporate welfare is essentially just throwing good money after bad. Or in this case, good money after bad, after bad, after bad!

Some good news for Easter! Landlord interest deductibility restored from Monday with bright line test reduced 🎉

It's not all bad news. The Government did deliver two taxpayer wins this week:

Interest deductibility for landlords reintroduced. The current distortion in interest deductibility rules unfairly targets landlords and reduces long-run incentives for landlords to provide housing. The changes passed yesterday will finally put an end to this imbalance.

Bright-line test reduced to two years. The bright-line test is a capital gains tax by stealth. It completely misses the problem when it comes to housing prices which is not enough supply – the only way to do this is with proper RMA reform, which the Government has committed to deliver. We would like to see the bright-line test scrapped entirely but this is a welcome first step.

Labour now know how they'll win the next election! With more taxes... 🤦‍♂️🥀

Labour Caucus Meeting

After a bruising election, Chris Hipkins has been thinking about how to rebrand Labour. So, like many, we were looking forward to how Mr Hipkins would use his first big speech as Leader of the Opposition last weekend to set out a bold new vision for his Party that recognised their mistakes of the last six years.

Don't hold your breath.

It appears David Parker and the we-didn't-win-the-election-because-we-didn't-propose-enough-new-taxes wing of the Labour Party have captured the leadership. Hipkins wants Labour to double down on wealth taxes and capital gains taxes to "win" back voters.

Robbo's Hot Take: I didn't borrow enough 🤷‍♂️

Last weekend also saw Grant Robertson's exit interview on Q+A with Jack Tame

Robertson's legacy of 67% higher public spending, higher inflation, higher interest rates, and a 161% increase in government debt was a disappointment even for Grant Robertson, but not in the way you might think.

The interview was a chance for Mr Robertson to have a moment of personal reflection. He sure did too: telling Jack Tame that he wished he'd spent more and borrowed more.

Yes, you read that right.

The CCP now know more about what MP's spend your money on that you do! 🕵️

CCP Expenses

Wellington was rocked this week by news that the an organisation with alleged links to the Chinese Government has hacked into the Parliamentary Service.

15 years ago, our UK sister organisation the TaxPayers' Alliance helped blow the lid on MPs abusing and misusing their spending entitlements on things such as moat cleaning and duck houses. The information came to light thanks to whistleblowers within the system providing data to the media and the Taxpayers' Alliance.

Like our sister groups around the world, we say it is unacceptable for politicians to vote themselves special protections from public transparency of how they spend our money on themselves.

The Parliamentary Service is one of the very few public organisations in New Zealand that is exempt from our Official Information transparency laws. We have no idea what information was obtained from the alleged hack, but it would be a very weird situation where the Chinese Communist Party has more access to information on our MPs' expenses than we do.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth Series: Cameron Luxton 🎙🎧

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Jordan sat down with newly elected ACT Party MP, Cameron Luxton. 

Cameron Luxton is New Zealand's only Licensed Building Practitioner that has ever been elected to Parliament. Prior to entering politics, Cameron worked as a builder and dairy farmer. Cameron tells Jordan about his childhood, struggling at school before eventually engaging thanks to a teacher and classroom that didn't operate in the same 'one-size-fits-all' model as most schools. 

Not discussed in this podcast, but worth noting, is Cameron's Member's Bill that would put an end to the archaic Easter trading rules that see the Government dictating what businesses can and can't open and whether you are allowed to have a beer while watching Friday night rugby at the pub.

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

That's it for this week,

Happy Easter,

Callum

Callum Signature
Callum Purves
Head of Campaigns

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union 


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Media Mentions:

Newshub 
Christopher Luxon rules out new taxes, says 'relief is happening'

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Peters v Chumbawamba – who's in the right?

NZ Herald Christopher Luxon’s inner circle – the Prime Minister’s most important advisers

1News Govt plan to extinguish youth vaping: What you need to know

RNZ The Panel with Sue Bradford and Sue Thomas (4:05)

Northland Age From the other side – explosion of agendas a baffling phenomenon

Stuff Richlister behind Les Mills gym empire reveals why he donates to political parties

SunLive Economy slips into recession as GDP falls 0.1%

Taupo Times Ruapehu bailout 'corporate welfare'

The Post Call to end restraint of trade clauses that appear in job contracts everywhere

Press Releases:

Grant Robertson interview demonstrates why he should never have been finance minister

Luxon must rule out new taxes, not adopt Labour’s approach

Taxpayers' Union stands down from high alert after sleepless night 

Capital city deep in crisis needs more housing

Disposable vape ban will drive people back to smoking 

New Zealand in recession as Kiwis' quality of life tanks 

IMF right to call for slashing government waste

Government needs to stop tinkering and pop the ballooning bureaucracy

Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the wheels turning on RMA reform

Chris Hipkins out of touch with New Zealand’s tax system

Pseudo-savings must be called out and halted

Small Wellington businesses punished by swipe at drivers for no gain

If the CCP can see politicians' expenses, so should taxpayers

Government must cut spending and provide permanent tax relief

Two steps forward, one step back for taxpayers

Government must not continue Labour legacy of special treatment for DJs

Taxpayers’ Union make formal request to Chinese Government for MP spending information

The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information (中华人民共和国政府信息公开条例) for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer money.

Union Spokesman, Jordan Williams said, “We don’t know whether hackers – allegedly connected to the CCP – have the information. But if so, it is clearly in the public interest for it to be released so that Kiwi taxpayers can know how their money is being spent.

“In New Zealand there is a strange carve-out of official information laws that excludes politicians from the transparency and accountability expected of government organisations and local councils. If we are able to get the information via Chinese freedom of information laws, that would be a win for transparency.

“In the UK, it took data dumps and whistleblowers to blow the lid of their MPs expenses scandal. If the Chinese Government, or anyone else, has the data, the Taxpayers’ Union will gladly receive it and make available the information to the public.The Taxpayers’ Union runs a confidential tip line via https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/tip_line and email [ tipline (at) taxpayers.org.nz ] and does not disclose sources."

纳税人联盟向中国政府正式请求提供国会议员支出信息
纳税人联盟今天根据中华人民共和国政府信息公开条例提出正式请求,要求提供有关新西兰国会议员如何使用纳税人的钱的信息。 "我们不知道据称与中共有联系的黑客是否掌握这些信息。如果他们这样做,提供信息显然符合公众利益。 纳税人有权知道他们的钱是如何花的。 "在新西兰,官方信息法有一种奇怪的例外,将政治家排除在政府组织和地方议会所期望的透明度和问责制之外。如果我们能够通过中国的信息自由法获得信息,那将是透明度的胜利。
"在英国,数据转储和举报人揭开了国会议员开支丑闻的盖子。如果中国政府确实掌握了这些信息,纳税人联盟将很乐意接受这些信息,并向公众提供这些信息。纳税人联盟通过 https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/tip_line 提供保密举报

Government must not continue Labour legacy of special treatment for DJs

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“No one can forget the irrational and unfair treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic that saw DJs being prioritised ahead of ICU nurses for MIQ spots, the Government must come down hard on the officials involved to send a message that it is unacceptable to treat taxpayers differently based on who they know.

“In 2022, David Seymour rightly criticised the Government for having ‘one rule for DJs and another for everyone else’, his Government must send a clear message that special privileges will not be tolerated.

“All taxpayers deserve a right to efficient and cost effective services. Allowing some people to jump the queue disrespects all taxpayers who fund the service and deserve to be treated on an equal playing field.”

Two steps forward, one step back for taxpayers

Reacting to the Government’s bill to increase the trust tax rate to 39% passing its third reading today, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“National have just passed into law yet another of Labour’s tax increases. Rather than tackling the 84% increase in spending that every single one of their MPs campaigned against at the election, they have instead opted to hike taxes.

“While we congratulate the Government on reinstating interest deductibility for residential rental properties, and reducing the bright-line test to two years, they have simply reversed two of Labour’s tax grabs while implementing another. There is no doubt that we are in challenging economic times, but the answer is to cut wasteful spending, not hike taxes.

“The National-led Government must immediately work to significantly reduce spending in all non-frontline areas to create the fiscal headroom needed to not only deliver its promised tax relief but also reverse the recent tax hikes that they have so brazenly introduced.”

Government must cut spending and provide permanent tax relief

Responding to the release of the 2024 Budget Policy Statement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“We welcome today’s commitments to fiscal responsibility and reduced spending, but it must be backed up by real action.

“At the very least the Government must deliver its promised tax relief, funded by cutting back the 84% increase in spending over the last 6 years. There is so much waste to cut, there is no reason for the surplus to be pushed back yet another year.

“It also cannot be forgotten but unless the Government commits to ongoing inflation adjustments to tax brackets, the budget will simply provide temporary tax relief attached to a promise to keep hiking taxes.

“The Government has acknowledged the impact of inflation hiking up taxes by stealth over the last 14 years – if they don’t do anything to fix this, they are complicit in the thievery."

If the CCP can see politicians' expenses, so should taxpayers

Responding to reports of a cyberattack on the Parliamentary Counsel Office and Parliamentary Service by an organisation with links to the Chinese Government, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“It’s a sad day when overseas hackers know more about how taxpayers’ money is being spent than taxpayers themselves.

“Currently, there is a strange carve-out in our official information laws that excludes politicians from the transparency and accountability that they rightly expect of all government organisations and local councils.

“Overseas scandals such as the one in the UK where MPs were found to be abusing and misusing their spending entitlements on things such as moat cleaning and duck islands for their personal homes, along with Ministerial expense scandals here in NZ highlight the need for transparency in how politicians spend their money.

“We shouldn’t need a scandal before politicians open up their spending habits to some much needed sunlight. MPs should get ahead of this latest hack and expand our official information laws to include their own expenses within our official information laws.”

Lack of warning signs at speed camera locations is dishonest and dangerous

Commenting on reports that out of 10 permanent speed cameras installed by the Government late last year, only one will have warning signage, Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman, Alex Murphy, said:

"The Transport Minister has time and again assured us that his Government's proposed speed camera empire will be built strictly in the name of safety, but this failure to clearly signpost speed cameras at 9 high-speed locations in Auckland and Northland once again looks to be more of a revenue-gathering exercise over effective safety policy.

"Having extensive signage around speed cameras will encourage drivers to check their speed and slow down if they are over the limit. The only reason why the Government wouldn't want to have clear warning signs would be to maximise the amount of fines it receives.

"If the Government really wants to take a safety-first approach to speed-monitoring, then signposting is imperative. This shouldn't be an exercise about catching people out to potentially gain more revenue."

Small Wellington businesses punished by swipe at drivers for no gain

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has proposed scrapping car parking spots on Cuba Street with misguided claims it will reduce emissions. This will reduce parking revenue by $200,000, plus damage already struggling local businesses. 

Commenting on this, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: 

“Whanau wants to scrap car parking spots despite the fact this won’t lead to a single gram of reduced carbon emissions. Under the ETS, any reduction in transport emissions here simply frees up more carbon credits to be used by other emitters. 

“This lack of basic understanding shows why Wellington is falling apart at the seams. At every turn, the council seem to make life harder for residents and drive away trade from local businesses. 

“It’s easy for Whanau to say income can’t be the priority when, thanks to ratepayers, hers is safe. It’s the income of hardworking Wellingtonians already drowning in red tape that is on the line.” 

Pseudo-savings must be called out and halted

Reacting to reports that Worksafe is rehiring for back-office roles it disestablished in November, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“What we are seeing here is the bureaucracy making non-existent ‘pseudo-savings’. By disestablishing roles, they get to claim the credit and good favour with the responsible Minister, only to reinstate those same roles months later and hope no one notices.

“This process of firing then rehiring staff has probably ended up costing taxpayers more than not doing anything at all. We warned in January that asking Chief Executives to find savings was like asking foxes to guard the henhouse and would lead to next to no savings, or savings that arise from the most politically damaging areas rather than the bloated back-office where there is so much fat to be trimmed.

“The Taxpayers’ Union understands a similar process is happening at Te Pukenga with roles being disestablished then re-offered back to the same people to give the appearance of savings when, in reality, taxpayers are still on the hook for back-office waste. This rort needs to stop.”

Pseudo-savings must be called out and halted

Reacting to reports that Worksafe is rehiring for back-office roles it disestablished in November, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“What we are seeing here is the bureaucracy making non-existent ‘pseudo-savings’. By disestablishing roles, they get to claim the credit and good favour with the responsible Minister, only to reinstate those same roles months later and hope no one notices.

“This process of firing then rehiring staff has probably ended up costing taxpayers more than not doing anything at all. We warned in January that asking Chief Executives to find savings was like asking foxes to guard the henhouse and would lead to next to no savings, or savings that arise from the most politically damaging areas rather than the bloated back-office where there is so much fat to be trimmed.

“The Taxpayers’ Union understands a similar process is happening at Te Pukenga with roles being disestablished then re-offered back to the same people to give the appearance of savings when, in reality, taxpayers are still on the hook for back-office waste. This rort needs to stop.”

Chris Hipkins out of touch with New Zealand’s tax system

Responding to comments from Chris Hipkins’ State of the Nation speech that New Zealand’s tax system is unsustainable, inequitable and in desperate need of reform, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Alex Murphy said:

“Chris Hipkins might be trying to conjure up the narrative that implementing new taxes will somehow lead to a more prosperous and productive New Zealand, but a quick look at the latest GDP figures will tell you that our economy needs to be stimulated – not stifled.

“Time and again we’ve demonstrated that bringing in a capital gains tax or a wealth tax is about the worst thing you could do to an already slumping economy, and in the latter’s case, would potentially bring in less tax, as all those top earners wave goodbye and move their wealth abroad.

“The Government is reeling in more tax than it has ever done before, and despite the spin from leftwing groups, is being funded almost entirely from the top quarter of earners. Hipkins would do well to pull his head out of the sand and realise that New Zealand actually needs less taxation and less government spending to get it out of this hole, not the contrary.”

MPs in Depth: Cameron Luxton

This week's Taxpayer Talk presents another installment of our "MPs in Depth" podcast series, delving into the backgrounds of Parliament's newest members. In this episode, Jordan sits down with Cameron Luxton, the recently elected ACT Party MP.

Cameron Luxton is unique in that he is New Zealand's only Licensed Building Practitioner ever elected to Parliament. Prior to his political career, Luxton worked as both a builder and a dairy farmer. He shares with Jordan his personal journey, recounting his challenges in school and eventual breakthrough, spurred by a teacher and environment that diverged from the traditional, one-size-fits-all approach to education.

It's evident that Luxton's passions lie in advocating for charter schools and addressing the housing crisis. He articulates how the closure of charter schools served as a catalyst for his entry into politics, highlighting his commitment to tackling pressing issues facing New Zealand.

Cameron's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Cameron on Facebook here.

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If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

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Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the wheels turning on RMA reform

Commenting on Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop’s speech to the New Zealand Planning Institute, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Wholesale RMA reform must be the aim, and the Government cannot lose sight of that. If we ever stand a chance of tackling the housing crisis and infrastructure deficit, New Zealand needs to take the red-tape noose off from around its neck.

“However, this will take time, and New Zealand cannot afford years more of the same anti-growth status quo. Given the impossible mess of competing priorities we currently face, plans for the reforms to prioritise property rights and freedom of choice within clear environmental limits are an encouraging sign.

“Small-but-necessary amendments to the RMA whilst a replacement is drafted should be welcomed. But when it comes to planning reform, the Government needs to keep its foot on the pedal.”

Government needs to stop tinkering and pop the ballooning bureaucracy

Reacting to the recent announcement that the Government plans to reduce staffing levels at the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI), Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This fat-trimming goes nowhere near far enough. Since 2017, MPI’s bureaucracy has grown by 52%, forcing taxpayers to pay the wages of an additional 1,227 public servants. “The cries of austerity simply do not stack up when less than one in five of the additional bureaucrats are being laid off.

“The Health Ministry can also go a lot further by cutting most of its outright dumb spending and the jobs that go with it. From the $330k advertising campaign highlighting how bad the Ministry was doing to the $100k new Smokefree2025 logo, the Government is spoilt for choice for savings if it’s willing to look for them.

“While job losses in the public sector are very visible, we cannot forget that every job in the public sector costs private sector jobs, as money is sucked away from consumers and productive businesses. We cannot let fear-mongering from the self-interested PSA union get in the way of the changes this country desperately needs.”

IMF right to call for slashing government waste

Responding to the latest comments by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the state of the New Zealand economy, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“The IMF has rightly criticised wasteful government spending in New Zealand. Like with the last Government, they’ve cautioned this one about chucking good money after bad on policies which don’t deliver.

“The IMF is also right to warn the Government against funding tax cuts through borrowing. With Kiwis being up to their necks in almost $90,000 of Government debt per household, the Taxpayers’ Union’s New Zealand Government debt clock keeps ticking up.

“With New Zealand in recession, the Government needs to make boosting productivity its priority. That can only happen by cutting red tape and delivering tax relief, but this should be funded by slashing the bloated bureaucracy and not by lumbering Kiwis with even more debt.”

See the Debt Clock at: http://debtclock.nz

New Zealand in recession as Kiwis’ quality of life tanks

Responding to the release of the latest update to New Zealand’s GDP figures, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“New Zealand is in recession, with GDP shrinking for the second quarter in a row and GDP per capita in freefall for the fifth quarter in a row.

“As government after government sucks in more money from productive sectors and fritters it away on waste, New Zealanders’ quality of life is going to continue to nosedive.

“Kiwis cannot afford more of the same, and real growth must be the country’s priority. With our productivity already among the worst in the developed world, what will it take for the Government to wake up and smell the roses?”

Disposable vape ban will drive people back to smoking

Reacting to the Government’s announcement that they plan to ban disposable vapes, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman for Lifestyle Economics, Connor Molloy, said:

“Current issues with youth vaping, although they are on the decline according to the latest ASH survey, are a failure of enforcement not of policy. We welcome the proposed changes in relation to harsher penalties and enforcement for those illegally selling vaping products to minors but extending this crackdown to a ban on disposable vapes will simply drive people back towards smoking and encourage a blackmarket of unregulated vaping products as seen in Australia.

“Disposable vapes play an especially important role in helping smokers make the initial shift to vaping due to the lower initial costs and simplicity. The evidence is overwhelmingly clear that vaping is significantly less harmful than vaping. This ban will simply it harder and more expensive to quit smoking, instead encouraging people to remain or revert to smoking, or to consume black market vaping products where the risks are completely unknown.

“The government needs to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater and disrupt the positive progress towards our smokefree goals. The disposable vape ban will lead to higher smoking rates than there otherwise would have been, leading to worse health outcomes rather than helping people to shift away from the tar and taxes to a much safer alternative."

Capital city deep in crisis needs more housing

Responding to amendments to the District Plan which will see increased height limits for buildings in suburbs surrounding the Wellington CBD, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Even more so than the rest of the country, Wellington is neck-deep in a housing crisis which is denying young people even the chance of ever owning property in the city. Rents and mortgages alike are through the roof and climbing.

“The only way out of the crisis is building more places for people to live, and burdening the capital with incredibly restrictive height limits would only make housing more expensive.

“For a council that’s got so much wrong over the last few years, it’s a refreshing change to see them waking up to reality.”

Taxpayer Update: $800,000 taxpayer-funded Jacinda Blockbuster💰🎥 | Longer wait for interest deductibility ↩️ | Australia cut border taxes! 💥

 

COMING SOON: Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Kind 🎬

 

Not content with paying for feature-length documentaries about Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick, the creative minds at the NZ Film Commission have decided in their infinite wisdom to funnel $800,000 of taxpayer money to prop up the production of a new documentary about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Your humble Taxpayers' Union has, of course, called the Commission out.

The Film Commission is not reading the room with its ridiculous decision to pile in $800k of taxpayer money into a hero worship film about Dame Jacinda Ardern says the Taxpayers’ Union.

A spokesman for the Union, Jordan Williams, said, “On the one hand, the Film Commission says the film has market confidence and will likely be a commercial success, but then on the other they give it taxpayer money anyway.”
 
“From a taxpayer’s perspective, any funding of films about politicians is questionable. Most countries call it propaganda.”

This is why public funding of media usually comes with requirements to be balanced or non-partisan. The Film Commission just don't seem to care. They are abusing their position – responsible for spending our money, but using it to promote elected representatives from only one side of the political spectrum. 

 “‘Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Kind’ funding during a cost-of-living crisis confirms what we already know: the Film Commission is nothing but a leftie love-in and ignores any pretence of being politically neutral. It should be focused on the arts, not politics.”
 
“And it’s not the first time the Film Commission’s been to the left-wing blockbuster rodeo. This is the same outfit that pumped taxpayer money into a puff piece on Chlöe Swarbrick. This Commission lacks self-awareness and professionalism.”
 
“The Commission needs to be culled to fund real arts or balanced current affairs content. Tax take is crumbling, families are struggling, and the fourth estate is dying. There are far higher priorities than funding an adoring film on a politician.” 
 
In December 2021, NZ On Air and the New Zealand Film Commission allocated NZ$200,000 and NZ$20,000 to a feature-length documentary focusing on the political career of Chlöe Swarbrick called Being Chlöe.

And we've since found another to add to the list: In addition to Chlöe, back in 2018, Stuff reported on taxpayer funded events promoting "My Year With Helen" [Clark] – a fly-on-the-wall documentary of the former PM's job at the UN – which, you guessed it, got $870,000 in taxpayer-funding.

ST🛑P taxpayer funding of political propaganda 🪧

We say enough is enough when it comes to arts funding being highjacked for politics. We will be submitting to Parliament before the next financial review of the Film Commission asking for a change to the quango's governing legislation that would prevent taxpayer–funded film grants being used for political propaganda.

If you agree that the Film Commission’s purview should be restricted to the arts, not politics, please take 30 seconds to add your name to the petition.

✍️ Sign the petition here ✍️

Australia abolishes c.500 tariffs, should we follow suit? ✁🦘

Sometimes our Australian cousins get it right. Last week, Australia's Labor Government announced it is doing what our own Government is too scared to do: abolishing import tariffs on nearly 500 products to help fight their cost-of-living crisis.

Tariffs are taxes on products entering the country and are a failed economic tool. New Zealand is mostly tariff free thanks to our free trade deals, but there are still a number of select products from certain countries that face import taxes of five or ten percent. These include school uniforms, sunscreen, makeup, and even ambulances! 🚑

We say New Zealand should stand with Australia and called on Christopher Luxon to do the same so New Zealanders could reap the benefits of lower prices, more competition, and so consumers can avoid the costs of self-imposed tariffs. 

Our Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, joined the AM Show to discuss the merits of the idea.

Remember too, that the costs of tariffs aren't just the tariff itself. Imposing even small tariffs justifies more bureaucracy at the border and enormous compliance costs. In fact, New Zealand's remaining tariffs likely cost more in administration and economic costs than they generate in revenue! Governments of all stripes crow about the benefits of free trade. Let's do it then!

Interest deductibility pushed back: another unfriendly U-turn? 📝↩️

We've had dozens of emails from mum and dad landlords who are feeling very disappointed that the Government is delaying the return of interest deductibility for residential landlords. As is usually the case in politics, the devil is in the detail.

Yes the Government should be applauded for the fulfilment of pre-election promises to bring property investment into line with every other investment and business class (whereby interest is a legitimate business expense able to be deducted from taxable income).

But on the other hand, it's more than a bit sneaky for the Government to push the implementation back despite it being explicitly clear in November's coalition agreements (refer page 4) that the deduction would be available for the current 2023/2024 tax year. Bundled into last week's announcement was the detail that taxpayers must wait another year – tax year starting 1 April – for the policy to come into place.

As we've seen with

❌ the App Tax, which National campaigned to scrap, yet now have all but adopted;

❌ National's income tax threshold indexation policy, which will no longer look to provide ongoing income tax brackets adjustments for inflation; and

❌ the Trust Tax hike, which the now Revenue-Minister spoke vehemently against and warned of the unintended consequences of just 10 months ago.

Instead of taking the tough (but necessary) spending decisions to reduce government spending as the Government receives bad financial news, they are tending to take a "Labour-lite approach" and deliver less for taxpayers.

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, our role is to help give the Government – which campaigned so strongly against the very policies they are now championing – some backbone. Times are tough, tax revenue is weaker than forecast, and we know Wellington has a spending crisis. But with tough economic times ahead, we say the Government ought to be tougher to crack down on wasteful spending, rather than underdeliver on the promises for tax relief to help kickstart the economy and provide much-needed relief for households.

The next test will be the so-called Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which looks like it may go ahead, despite Minister Melissa Lee calling it a 'shakedown'. If it goes through, we can expect to see New Zealand news gone from the major social media platforms (as has happened in Australia and Canada).

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth Series: Catherine Wedd🎙

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Ollie sat down with National Party MP for Tukituki, Catherine Wedd.

Catherine speaks about how, as a kid, she wanted to be a lawyer, journalist and a politician, something she now describes as "perhaps the three most unpopular professions of this century" – but at the election last year was able to fill the third leg of that dream. Catherine has also worked in horticulture and been a director on the New Zealand Apples and Pears Board.

Along with discussing her career before politics, Ollie and Catherine discuss her political ideology, the Public Interest Journalism Fund and which Labour Party policy she secretly admires. 

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Other News in Brief ⏰

> We also commented on the revelation that Masterton District Council made a secret payout to Health New Zealand over a dispute relating to building defects at Wairarapa hospital while ratepayers face the prospect of a 10.6% rates hike. Information we uncovered also revealed that Health New Zealand's legal costs alone cost taxpayers a staggering $3.5 million.

> We voiced our opposition to mammoth rates hikes in Tauranga, Dunedin and the Greater Wellington Region.

> National announced that they would be reintroducing performance targets in the health sector to ensure taxpayers are seeing value for money. We welcomed the announcement here. 

> We called out the Department of Conservation for crying for more money, despite their staff headcount increasing by 28.2% since 2017, including an additional 134 managers and at least 319 other additional staff in back-office roles.

> National are ploughing ahead with their Trust Tax hike with only a $10,000 threshold before the 39% tax kicks in. We slammed this pathetically low value and pointed out the many farmers and other groups that would be still overtaxed by this hike. 

> The Climate Change Commission released its latest round of woke advice that appears insistent on making it as expensive as possible to reduce emissions. We called on them to use evidence-based policy and common sense. 

> Wellington did something sensible for a change so we welcomed their vote to slash bureaucratic red tape holding back the development of housing. 

That's it for this week, 

Yours aye,

Callum

Callum Signature
Callum Purves
Head of Campaigns

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union 


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Media Mentions:

NZ Herald
 Latest poll: Christopher Luxon’s popularity crashes after allowance blunder, now trails Chris Hipkins

Newshub Christopher Luxon's favourability tanks; Labour's support lowest since 2021 in new Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll

Newstalk ZB Afternoon Edition: 08 March 2024 – Poll (01:58)

The Post Masterton council settles with Health NZ over $90 million hospital claim

Otago Daily Times Rate hikes unaffordable – advocate

interest.co.nz The Coalition Government has delivered on its 100 day promises but faces much bigger challenges ahead

Newshub New Zealand Film Commission to spend $800k on new Dame Jacinda Ardern documentary

Newstalk ZB Chloe Swarbrick sets out her first moves in new Green Party co-leader role (05:37)

The Platform Mayor of Westland Helen Lash on Hydro Power & the Fast-track Bill – Poll

Newstalk ZB Nicola Willis: Finance Minister addresses the problems in New Zealand's media sector – Poll (05:51)

POLITIK Luxon’s brave climate change promise

Newshub Taxpayers' Union says Government should 'follow Australia's lead' in abolishing tariffs

Gisborne Herald No justification for funding ‘Jacindamania’ doco 

Stuff Chris Hipkins pushes ‘slow and steady’ message to Labour caucus

The Post Labour starts planning for a tough three years

Waikato Times Ruapehu bailout ‘corporate welfare’ says Taxpayers Union

Te Ao Māori News Fifth cash injection keeps Ruapehu Alpine Lifts in business

NZ Herald Green Party’s horror run continues with MP Darleen Tana’s suspension - Audrey Young

RNZ The Week in Politics: Landlords and tenants, the police and the minister

The Platform Inside the new $3.2million Jacinda Ardern documentary critics say is dangerously close to taxpayer-funded propaganda

Press Releases

15.8% Rates Hike Shows Tauranga Long Term Plan Must Be Delayed Until After Democracy Returns

Dunedin City Council’s 17.4% Rates Hike Unacceptable

Sorely Needed Targeting On The Way For Ailing Health Sector

Film Commission Confirms Status As Taxpayer Funded Leftie Love-In

Department Of Conservation Must Conserve Taxpayer Money

National’s Changes To Labour Trust Tax Bill Pathetic And Kicks Farmers

Taxpayers’ Union Slams Unbelievable Rates Hike From Greater Wellington Regional Council

New Zealand Should Follow Australia’s Lead And Abolish Tariffs

Climate Change Commission Insistent On Making Emissions Reduction Expensive

Ruapehu Bailout Throwing Good Money After Bad, After Bad, After Bad, After Bad

Taxpayers’ Union Celebrates Slashing Of Housing Red Tape In Wellington

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes New Bill To Remove Unfair Union Privileges

Expedia’s Exit From Market Shows App Tax Will Reduce Competition And Raise Prices

Kāpiti Council Living Wage Will Do More Harm Than Good

Grant Robertson Interview Demonstrates Why He Should Never Have Been Finance Minister

Taxpayers’ Union stands down from high alert after sleepless night

The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024.

“Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise sent a chill down the spine of all of us here at the Taxpayers’ Union” says the group's co-founder, Jordan Williams. “After a sleepless night, the team are delighted to be able to hit pause on the ‘broken promise’ campaign.

“The coffee machine is overheating, the eyes are puffy, but our campaign team can return to normal duties.

“However, Kiwis earning the median salary of $65,479 are still paying an extra $2,285 a year in income tax compared to 2010 thanks to the inflation tax. Until Luxon gets serious about ending these stealth tax hikes by the back door, any talk of tax relief is just giving with one hand while promising to keep taking more and more with the other.”

The Taxpayers' Union's Inflation Tax calculator can be found at http://axetheinflationtax.nz

Luxon must rule out new taxes, not adopt Labour’s approach

Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more than Labour lite. After hounding the previous Government for increasing spending by 67% in just six years and criticising them for introducing new taxes as an answer for every problem, the National-led Government appears to be softening voters to do just that.

“We have already seen it with the u-turns on the promise to scrap the app tax, the hiking of the trust tax rate and the delay to reinstating interest deductibility for rental properties. At every turn, the government has opted for more and higher taxes, rather than making the necessary cuts to the bloated bureaucracy and slashing wasteful spending such as the billions splashed out on corporate and middle class welfare each year.

“It is time the Government gets real with New Zealanders. Did they elect a fiscally conservative government who is prepared to cut waste and shrink the size of the state or did they elect a continuation of the tax, spend and hope policies of the past six years?”

Grant Robertson interview demonstrates why he should never have been finance minister

Responding to Grant Robertson’s recent admission on a Q+A with Jack Tame that his only regret from his time in office was that he didn’t take on more debt, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Alex Murphy, said:

“Grant Robertson has now admitted that he would rather have spent more, borrowed more, and cranked up the debt level even higher if he was given another shot at managing the economy. For the rest of New Zealand, though, the fact he didn’t is about the only thing we’re thankful for!

“In just the six years he was finance minister, Robertson hiked public spending by 67% and increased government debt by 161%. Yet, despite all that extra debt, New Zealanders continue to think that our public institutions have got worse – not better.

“Robertson’s wilful ignorance might allow him to think that taking on even more debt would have solved his problem. But his failure to manage the economy had nothing to with being underfunded. His problem was that he has an addiction to wasteful, unchecked, inflationary spending.

“While debt isn’t inherently bad if used to fund long-life infrastructure, Mr Robertson was borrowing to fund reckless deficit spending and leaving nothing to show for it upon leaving office except record interest payments and 30-year high inflation.

MPs in Depth: Catherine Wedd

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Ollie sat down with National Party MP for Tukituki, Catherine Wedd. 

Catherine speaks about how, as a kid, she wanted to be a lawyer, journalist and politician, something she now describes as "perhaps the three most unpopular professions of this century" – but at the election last year was able to fill the third leg of that dream. Catherine has also worked in horticulture and been a director on the New Zealand Apples and Pears Board. Along with discussing her career before politics, Ollie and Catherine discuss her political ideology, the Public Interest Journalism Fund and which Labour Party policy she secretly admires. 

Catherine's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Catherine on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsiHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

Kāpiti Council Living Wage will do more harm than good

Commenting on the introduction of the living wage for all employees and contractors at Kāpiti Coast District Council, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The problem with blanket living-wage policies is that they put ideology before evidence and actually lead to increased poverty. This is because when wage rates increase, lower-skilled employees are crowded out by more skilled employees enticed by higher wages. This reduces jobs available for those who are low-skilled and forces ratepayers to overpay for jobs that people would be happy to do for a lower rate, such as those seeking to gain experience in the labour force.

“For those current employees that do get a pay increase from a living wage, a significant portion of this will be clawed back by the government at the punishingly high 30% tax rate or through reductions in working for families tax credits. In some instances, it could even lead to job losses. When Wellington introduced a living wage, 17 low-skilled employees lost their jobs, harming the very people such a policy aimed to help.

“The evidence on artificially hiking up wages is clear, it harms the very people it aims to help leading to increased poverty overall. Our 2017 report, Best of Intentions, Worst of Results, outlined the case against implementing a living wage and provides a comprehensive analysis of the evidence demonstrating the disastrous outcomes of such a policy.”

Expedia’s exit from market shows App Tax will reduce competition and raise prices

The Taxpayers’ Union is urging the National Party to reconsider its decision to implement the App Tax it campaigned to repeal following reports that Expedia will remove thousands of accomodation providers from its platform when the new tax comes into force.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“New Zealanders are already seeing signs of the devastating impacts that will result from National’s app tax. With major accomodation providers pulling out, consumers will be left with less choice, less competition and higher prices.

“The affects of this tax are not limited to those who use or provide app-based services. When there is less choice and competition, traditional accomodation providers are able to put their prices up higher which will force all consumers to pay more.

“Thousands of people have already used our email tool to tell Nicola Willis to Scrap the App Tax. National rightly campaigned against this unworkable and unaffordable tax yet now they are doing the opposite of what they promised. Instead of cutting waste and providing tax relief, they continue to dish out corporate welfare and introduce new taxes.” 

Taxpayers’ Union welcomes new bill to remove unfair union privileges

The Taxpayers’ Union is celebrating the lodging of ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar’s Member’s Bill to remove the obligation on employers to automatically deduct fees from union members’ pay.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This bill will level the playing field between trade unions and other advocacy groups that do not benefit from the current law, such as New Zealand’s largest union – The Taxpayers’ Union.

“Not only do some unions actively campaign in support of political parties, some even actively donate their members’ fees to them, it is unfair and immoral to require businesses to put up with the administrative burden of collecting membership dues when no other organisation receives that benefit.

“The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on all MPs to support this bill, it is a positive advancement for democracy, political freedom and freedom of association.”

MPs in Depth: Dr Vanessa Weenink

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Ollie sat down with newly elected National Party MP, Dr Vanessa Weenink. 

Vanessa details her life before politics including her time working as a doctor, being in the Army for more than 20 years, and even previously being a Labour Party member and helping with a local campaign.

Vanessa's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Vanessa on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsiHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

Taxpayers’ Union celebrates slashing of housing red tape in Wellington

Reacting to today’s vote on the District Plan and the recommendations of the Independent Housing Panel, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Housing, like any market, is a simply a matter of demand and supply but unfortunately red tape and regulation has effectively made it illegal to build an affordable house in this country. Changes to zoning rules and the shrinking of character areas will allow more houses to be built in Wellington and in time will stabilise or reduce house prices and rents.

“Too often people see problems and immediately call on the government or council to step in and create more rules and regulations without realising it was interventionism that created these problems in the first place. It is good to see some recognition that if the council and government get out of the way, many of these problems will fix themselves.

“The decision to delist a number of heritage buildings, at the request of the owners, is also a victory for private property rights. We urge Chris Bishop to confirm this decision and allow owners to use their properties as they wish, rather than be forced to run them into the ground until they are unlovable and unproductive.”

Ruapehu bailout throwing good money after bad, after bad, after bad, after bad

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Government’s announcement to give Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) another $7 million in corporate welfare bringing the total value of taxpayer-funded handouts they have received to $27.35 million in just the past two years.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“This is the fifth time the Government has given this company millions of taxpayer money under the illusion that it will magically turn around this failing company. They are quite literally throwing good money after bad, after bad, after bad, after bad.

“Claiming this will save jobs and generate tourism revenue misses the point entirely. The money used for this handout has been taxed away from other productive sectors of the economy, destroying jobs there, and moving it to less a productive area.

“What does the Government have to say to people in Queenstown and Wanaka who will no longer be employed due to the Government propping up an unviable competitor? Just because a job is less visible, doesn’t mean an impact doesn’t occur. The Government should kick the habit of picking winners and instead allow the market to sort itself out.

“Taxpayers struggling with the cost of living should not be forced to dig into their pockets to ensure that people wealthier than them are able to go skiing at their first preference location. Ministers meddling in markets is bad, providing corporate welfare is inexcusable.”

Climate Change Commission insistent on making emissions reduction expensive

Reacting to today’s release of the Climate Change Commission’s advice on the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), Taxpayers’ Union climate policy spokesperson, Connor Molloy, said:

“The advice, if accepted, would continue to keep carbon prices arbitrarily high, pushing up prices for consumers and making it more expensive to reduce net emissions for absolutely no additional environmental benefit.

“The Commission emphasises that social and economic equity must be considered as we respond to climate change while continuing to advocate for an arbitrarily high minimum price for carbon credits that does not even reduce emissions. This and the lack of any real attempt to legalise cheap international offsets makes life harder for the most economically marginalised.

“The Climate Change Commission also has it back to front when it comes to how we decarbonise. They argue that if other policies outside of the ETS reduce gross emissions, the ETS cap can be lowered to lock this in as a net emissions reduction. The Government could simply lower the ETS cap instead and the net emissions reduction will occur where it is most affordable to do so.

“Both scenarios reduce net emissions but, for some unknown reason, the Commission seems obsessed with doing things as expensively as possible through picking winners rather than allowing an efficient market.

“Today’s advice should also act as a warning for the Government. Relying on ETS revenue is not a sustainable way to deliver lasting tax relief when the revenue is so variable. The Government should instead focus on cutting waste to fund its tax relief and use ETS revenue to provide a universal carbon dividend to all taxpayers which may vary year to year.”

New Zealand should follow Australia’s lead and abolish tariffs

The Taxpayers’ Union is renewing its calls to abolish all tariffs following reports that Australia plans to unilaterally abolish nearly 500 of its tariffs.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“With the stroke of a pen, the Government could help households struggling with the cost of living by eliminating tariffs that increase the price of goods such as sunblock, clothing and leather shoes.

“Not only do tariffs make prices more expensive for consumers, they also add unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy, slowing down trade and making it more difficult for people to do business internationally. New Zealand’s tariffs cost the economy more than the measly revenue they generate. Throwing them out the window is well overdue.

“These tariffs do nothing except keep prices artificially high. We should go further than our Australian cousins and abolish all remaining tariffs entirely to help those struggling with the cost of living.”

Taxpayers’ Union slams unbelievable rates hike from Greater Wellington Regional Council

Responding to Greater Wellington Regional Council's proposal to hike its rates by 19.8% for the 2024/25 financial year, Taxpayers Union spokesman, Alex Murphy, said:

"Time and again we see councils come up with these ludicrous rates hikes to scare ratepayers into thinking that this is just the way it has to be – but this couldn't be further from the truth.

"For a council that has a higher percentage of staff earning over $100,000 than any other, Greater Wellington Regional Council are about as primed and ready as it gets to cut down on the back-office bureaucracy and start making savings.

"Pair that with the $75 million the Council spent on consultants and contractors last year, and the $4,000 that went towards purchasing Snapper Cards for MPs to get around Wellington, and it becomes perfectly clear what areas of waste the Council could tackle first.

"The bell we keep ringing might continue to fall on councillors' deaf ears, but that doesn’t mean we should stop ringing it. GWRC need to realise that proposing a rates hike of over 4 times the level of inflation isn't just unacceptable, it's unjustifiable."

National’s changes to Labour Trust Tax Bill pathetic and kicks farmers

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the Finance and Expenditure Committee’s recommended changes to the proposed trust tax hike saying they barely touch the sides. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Jordan Williams, said:

“The recommended $10,000 income de minimis amount is pathetic. Many of those people who legitimately use trusts for asset protection and for the benefit of future generations will be left with no choice but to fork out more for a Government unable to cut wasteful spending. The very people who the Government is trying to target at the big end of town will simply rearrange their finances into company and PIE structures and end up paying an even lower rate than they are now.

“This is a kick in the guts to farmers who can’t easily change from a trust structure because the family home is within the farm, or the grandparent who doesn’t want their grandchild having total control over their inheritance until they are an adult.

“It’s a Labour tax grab that Nicola Willis promised a National-led Government would scrap. Just like the App Tax, it’s unfair, unprincipled, and muddles our tax system.

“The sensible approach would to be to scrap this hike altogether and realign the trust and income tax rates by cutting the punitive 39% income tax rate. Instead, National are locking in Grant Robertson’s high-tax legacy by aligning the Trust Tax to Labour’s ‘rich prick’ 39% tax rate.”

Department of Conservation must conserve taxpayer money

Responding to claims from the Department of Conservation (DoC) that they are ‘spread too thin’ and are unable to perform their functions, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The only reason DoC is spread too thin is because they are spreading their resources across an ever-growing backroom bureaucracy rather than on delivering improved conservation outcomes.

“Since 2017, DoC’s headcount has grown by a staggering 28.2%, including an additional 134 managers and at least 319 other additional staff in back-office roles.

“This is also the same department that spent almost $12,000 on a funeral for a turtle and more than $5000 on retirement gifts for its former director-general. This wasteful expenditure could have instead purchased almost 600 rat traps, DoC’s priorities clearly aren’t getting value for money from the conservation spend.

“DoC must be forced to look at their own bloat and wasteful spending before calling on taxpayers to pour even more money into its bureaucracy.”

Film Commission confirms status as taxpayer funded leftie love-in

The Film Commission is not reading the room with its ridiculous decision to pile in $800k of taxpayer money into a hero worship film about Dame Jacinda Ardern says the Taxpayers’ Union.

The Union’s film critic, Jordan Williams, said, “On the one hand, the Film Commission says the film has market confidence and will likely be a commercial success, but then on the other they give it taxpayer money anyway.”
 
“From a taxpayer’s perspective, any funding of films about politicians is questionable. Most countries call it propaganda.”
 
“‘Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Kind’ funding during a cost-of-living crisis confirms what we already know: the Film Commission is nothing but a leftie love-in and ignores any pretence of being politically neutral. It should be focused on the arts, not politics.”
 
“And it’s not the first time the Film Commission’s been to the left-wing blockbuster rodeo. This is the same outfit that pumped taxpayer money into a puff piece on Chlöe Swarbrick. This Commission lacks self-awareness and professionalism.”
 
“The Commission needs to be culled to fund real arts or balanced current affairs content. Tax take is crumbling, families are struggling, and the fourth estate is dying. There are far higher priorities than funding an adoring film on a politician.” 
 
In December 2021, NZ On Air and the New Zealand Film Commission allocated NZ$200,000 and NZ$20,000 to a feature-length documentary focusing on the political career of Swarbrick called Being Chlöe.
 
To the best of our knowledge no conservative politician has been promoted with content funded by the New Zealand Film Commission. Not even once.

NEW POLL: Labour hits record low but warning signs for Luxon and new Government

National is down 2.2 points on last month's poll to 37.4%, while Labour also drops by 2.6 points to 25.3%. The Greens are up to 11.3% (+2.3 points), overtaking ACT who drop back to 10.0% (-3.7 points).

The smaller parties are NZ First on 7.4% (+2.4 points) and Te Pāti Māori on 2.5% (+0.2 points).

For the minor parties, TOP is on 2.1%, Outdoors and Freedom is on 1.3%, Vision NZ is on 0.8%, Democracy NZ is on 0.4%, and others on 1.5%.

This month's results are compared to the last month's Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll

National is down 1 seat on last month to 48 while Labour is down two seats to 32. The Greens overtake ACT with 15 seats (up four) to the latter's 13 (down four). NZ First is up 3 seats to 9 while Te Pāti Māori is unchanged on 6 seats.

This calculation assumes that all electorate seats are held. A Parliament on these figures would have an overhang of 3 seats and a total of 123 seats.

The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right of 70 is down 2 from last month while the Centre-Left is up two seats to 53.

On these numbers, National and ACT would require the support of NZ First to form a government.

Christopher Luxon's net favourability drops significantly by 16 points to -5% while Chris Hipkins drops 2 points to 2%. Seymour is unchanged on -8% while Winston Peters improves by 10 points to -12%.

More detailed results, including net 'country direction' data and our new 'government approval' rating, which both turn back negative this month, are available on our website.

Taxpayer Update: NEW POLL bad news for major parties 🔵🔴 | Government proposes more fuel tax hikes!?!⛽ ⬆️ | Nicola Willis’ inbox gets flooded 📱📩

 

NEW POLL: Labour hits record low but warning signs for Luxon and new Government 📊

Not good news for the two big parties in this month's hot-off-the-press Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll.

For National, it was bad luck that our pollsters were in the field during the brouhaha over Christopher Luxon's decision to shun the Premier House digs in favour of taking the Ministerial accommodation allowance and staying in his own Wellington apartment (our two cents on that below). 

Meanwhile, there's no salvation for Labour as they continue to leak support to the Greens, with their worst result ever in our poll.

Compared with last month's poll, National is down 2.2 points to 37.4% while Labour also drops to 25.3% (-2.6 points) – this is Labour's lowest score since our poll began in January 2021.

The Greens get a 2.3-point boost taking them to 11.3% – also putting them ahead of ACT who dropped back down to 10.0% (-3.7 points).

The smaller parties are NZ First on 7.4% (+2.4 points) and Te Pāti Māori on 2.5% (+0.2 points).

For the minor parties, TOP is on 2.1%, Outdoors and Freedom is on 1.3%, Vision NZ is on 0.8%, Democracy NZ on 0.4% with the rest combined making up the remaining 1.5%.

Here is how these results would translate to seats in Parliament:

National is down one seat on last month to 48 while Labour is down two seats to 32. The Greens overtake ACT with 15 seats (up four) to the latter's 13 (down four). NZ First jump up three seats to 9 while Te Pāti Māori is unchanged on 6 seats.

On these numbers, National and ACT would require the support of NZ First to form a government (which is a change from last month's poll).

Luxon's favourability takes a 16-point dent

It's not just Labour taking a beating. Christopher Luxon's net favourability has plunged a whopping 16 points on last month. Just 39% of voters (-5 points) told pollsters they have a 'favourable' view of Christopher Luxon compared with 44% (+11 points) saying they have an 'unfavourable' view. That's a net favourability score of -5% compared to +11% last month. Ouch.

These numbers put Mr Luxon back behind Labour leader Chris Hipkins who, despite his party's poor showing, just maintains a positive net favourability of +2%. David Seymour has a net favourability of -8% while Winston Peters has a score of -12%.

This month we also asked respondents about their views on two National cabinet ministers. Education Minister Erica Stanford scored a net favourability of +5% and Minister of Health, Shane Reti, scored -1%.

Head over to our website to see some more bad news for the government in the net country direction and our 'government approval' rating, which have both gone back negative. You can also find out how to get access to the full version of our polling report.

One other titbit from our poll is that Labour has just overtaken National in 'which party is best at' in a single policy area, which is erm [checks notes] 'will not increase taxes on you'. 😳 This might well be why... 👇

❗😠 More fuel tax and rego hikes in Government's transport plan💰⛽ ⬆️

Earlier this week, the Government released its Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on land transport, which sets out the broad transport policies officials work to. 

Rather than score out of ten, let's just call it a mixed bag.

First the good: A more realistic approach to road safety which focuses less on 'road to zero' advertising (those wasteful and pointless ads costing almost $1 million in video production alone) and lowering speed limits and more on actual road improvements to promote safety.

A win for taxpayers too in the tightening up of the National Land Transport Fund so that the allocation of funding going towards walking and cycling is reduced and that the funding for rail is capped at the level of revenue gained from Track User Charges (TUCs). 

Successive governments have raided the Fund – which comes almost entirely from fuel taxes and roading charges – for non-roading purposes.

We say all petrol and road taxes should be used for roads. So while there is still some way to go, the reduction in the allocation of funds for non-roading related spending is at least a step in the right direction.

But now the fishhooks... 🪝

Government giving with one hand while taking with the other 🚘💰

National is technically holding to its promise not to hike fuel taxes this term, but they're making it costly! First, they now plan a staggering hike to fuel tax and Road User Charges in 2027 that makes up for the 'pause'. Rather than paying less, motorists simply get more time until they pay a lot more.

But that's not the worse thing. Under this draft plan, from next year, the annual cost of vehicle registration will shoot up $25 from January 2025, and another $25 in January 2026.

The best way to find more funding for roads is to ensure that all money already paid in road user charges and fuel excises is spent on roads – not political pet projects like walking and cycling.

For new roads, other financing tools should be used such as tolling so that those who want the benefit of faster and better roads pay while those who live elsewhere or want to use the old road can continue to do so.

The Government can crow about tax relief (in this case "pausing" hikes to fuel taxes) but New Zealanders know it when politicians give with one hand only to grab with another. Sadly, that's the case here.

Thousands of New Zealanders tell Nicola Willis to Scrap the App Tax 📵

Less than a week since we (re)launched National's pre-election campaign to Scrap the App tax – a promise now broken by Nicola Willis – more than 4,000 New Zealanders have taken 30 seconds to send an email using our easy tool at www.AppTax.nz

App tax signatures

And we know the Government has taken notice. Have a listen to Nicola Willis on Newstalk ZB discussing the thousands of emails she has received and admitting the policy U-turn:


Ms Willis claims that the App Tax had to be "sacrificed at the altar of coalition government". If that's the case, she needs to let taxpayers know which coalition partner vetoed it.

Your humble Taxpayers' Union has been back through the coalition agreements and they don't quite support Ms Willis's claim. In fact, both partners specifically commit to supporting National's Fiscal Plan which [double checking] on page 8 includes scrapping the App Tax.

We can't let Nicola Willis fall at the first hurdle to de-couple New Zealand from Labour's tax and spend approach. Click here to send Nicola Willis a message asking her to stick to her word.

Busting myths on Labour's National's App Tax 🔨

Myth 👻 The App Tax hits the big multinational app companies like Uber, Airbnb and Bookabach who don't currently pay GST.

Fact 💁‍♂️ These companies already pay GST on their slice of the revenue, this tax will fall on the little guy providing the service, such as the Uber driver or Airbnb host, and will ultimately be paid for by you in the form of higher prices.

Myth 👻 The App Tax is levelling the playing field to ensure that businesses are taxed equally.

Fact 💁‍♂️ All businesses, including Uber Drivers and Airbnb hosts, are currently required to pay GST if they earn more than $60,000, if any business earns less they are exempt. The App Tax will unfairly punish drivers and hosts who earn less than $60,000 purely because they use an app to find customers. 

Myth 👻 People who don't use app-based services like Uber and Airbnb won't be affected by the App Tax.

Fact 💁‍♂️ Competition keeps prices lower for consumers. If apps like Uber and Airbnb are forced to hike their prices, traditional taxis, accommodation providers and food delivery services can put their prices up too!

If you share our view that the Government should be cutting wasteful spending to fund tax relief and not hiking up taxes they promised to scrap, send Nicola Willis an email by clicking here.

Taxpayers paying twice: Luxon accommodation allowance 🏠

There's no doubt that Christopher Luxon's decision to take a $52,000 accommodation allowance despite already owning a property in Wellington was a bit of an own goal. 

As shown by the latest poll (see above) it was a wise move for the PM to quickly walk back his decision.

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we say taxpayers shouldn't have to pay twice: We pay for a premier house for the PM to live in. If it's not up to snuff to live in and host dignitaries, the solution isn't to pay for the PM to live elsewhere, the solution is to fix Premier House.

Now clearly if an upgrade to Premier House was lining taps with gold, or spending $531 on a toilet brush, we'd be the first to call it out! But even as taxpayer watchdogs, we accept that the PM's digs shouldn't be a national embarrassment. However, it is simply not credible an upgrade needs to cost $30 million.

We've now had five Prime Ministers say this place isn't up to scratch, and now we've even got the Australian Cricket Team laughing at us.

Instead of taking his allowance and living elsewhere, we say Christopher Luxon needs to take the initiative and spend what is necessary to get Premier House back up to a presentable standard.

Jordan spoke to One News about Mr Luxon taking the accommodation entitlement (this was prior to him saying he would pay it back). You can also read our statement to the media here.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth Series: Laura Trask 🎙

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Ollie sat down with ACT Party MP Laura Trask.

Laura is one of eleven ACT MPs elected at the 2023 General Election. Prior to entering Parliament, Laura worked as a pharmacy technician and in the health and safety industry. She discusses her career in helping people navigate bureaucratic red tape and her desire to make it easier for people to live their lives and do business.

Listen to the episode on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Other News in Brief ⏰

That's it for this week, 

Yours aye,

Callum

Callum Signature
Callum Purves
Head of Campaigns

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union 


Donate

Media Mentions:

RNZ 
PM Luxon claiming $52,000 accommodation supplement

1 News midday Chris Luxon collects taxpayer-funded accommodation expenses [TV only]

RNZ The Panel with Jo McCarroll and David Farrar (Part 2)

1 News at 6pm 
Luxon accommodation expenses

Newstalk ZB Morning Edition: 02 March 2024 (Luxon no longer claiming expenses) (1:20)

Newsroom 
When you hear the people sing

Newstalk ZB Nicola Willis: Finance Minister warns surplus deadline won't be reached

Press Releases

Greens’ Threat Straight Out Of Trump’s Playbook

Coalition Sticking Plasters Over New Zealand’s Infrastructure Crisis

Taxpayers’ Union Urges Masterton District Council To Prioritise Ratepayers Over Legacy Projects

Councils Can Save Money On LGOIMA Responses By Being More Transparent

Taxpayers’ Union Supports Wayne Brown’s Call For Rates On Government Buildings

Nicola Willis Needs To Explain Which Coalition Partner Vetoed Reversing The App Tax

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes Scrapping Of Ineffective Road To Zero Campaign

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes Draft Transport GPS, Warns Against Overzealous Tax Hikes

Scrap The App Tax: More Than 3,300 Taxpayers Contacted Nicola Willis Over The Weekend

Bigger Is Not Better Or More Efficient When It Comes To Local Councils

Taxpayers’ Union (Re)Launches National Party’s Campaign To Scrap The App Tax

MPs in Depth: Laura Trask

Laura Trask

This week on Taxpayer Talk is another episode in our MPs in Depth podcast series where we get to know Parliament's new MPs. In this episode, Ollie sat down with ACT Party MP Laura Trask. 

Laura is one of eleven ACT MPs elected at the 2023 General Election. Prior to entering Parliament, Laura worked as a pharmacy technician and in the health and safety industry. 

Trask discusses her career in helping people navigate bureaucratic red tape and her desire to make it easier for people to live their lives and do business. She also highlights the often 'unintended winners' from regulation, namely big businesses who benefit from higher costs and barriers to entry leading to reduced competition from smaller players.

Laura's maiden speech can be watched here. Follow Laura on Facebook here.

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email [email protected] 

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsiHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

Sorely needed targeting on the way for ailing health sector

Responding to the Government’s announcement that five key outcomes-focused health targets are set to be introduced, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Taxpayers’ Union – Curia polling last year showed that 70% of New Zealanders believed the health system had got worse since 2020. Given Labour spent their time in Government running from accountability by scrapping public sector targets at any opportunity, that should come as no surprise.

“Health spending has increased by over 45% since 2020, but all the while health outcomes have been plummeting. The last Government’s policy of blindly chucking billions into its own bureaucratic mess and hoping for the best was destined to fail from the start.

“A return of effective health targets should be welcomed across the board. There is no other policy area where bang-for-buck is as important as healthcare, and hopefully this signals a renewed focus on outcomes.”

Dunedin City Council’s 17.4% rates hike unacceptable

Responding to Dunedin City Council’s proposal to hike rates by 17.4% for the 2024/25 financial year, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Alex Murphy, said:

“The false argument that time and again gets thrown out by councils is that these monstrous rate hikes are the only way to combat debt – but that is simply rubbish.

According to our 2023 Ratepayers Report, the Dunedin City Council Group employs a whopping 1673 full-time staff, 372 of which earn over $100,000 a year and employs 20 staff just for communications and marketing.

“As is the same with many other councils across New Zealand, Dunedin City Council has got a spending problem – not a funding problem. If the Council wants to address its debt monster, it should tackle the bloated back-office rather than once again forcing ratepayers to front up.” 

15.8% rates hike shows Tauranga Long Term Plan must be delayed until after democracy returns

Responding to news that Tauranga City Council is proposing a 15.8% rates hike, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“With the Taxpayers’ Union’s latest Ratepayers’ Report revealing Tauranga City Council had 190.5 FTE Managers on a median salary of $263,700 and an annual spend on consultants and contractors of over $15 million, it’s clear to see where the Council’s priorities have been over the last few years.

“Years of waste on a bloated bureaucracy are coming back to bite ratepayers. The Council needs to hold its hands up and start making the necessary back-office cuts before it considers taking even more from residents struggling through the cost-of-living crisis.

“Tauranga’s commissioners are far too used to not being accountable to ratepayers at the ballot box. If residents needed proof that their long-term plan must be delayed until after democracy returns to Tauranga, then they don’t need to look any further than this latest cash grab.”

Greens’ threat straight out of Trump’s playbook

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Green Party co-leader James Shaw’s extraordinary threat to investors in regional and national projects of significance under the proposed new fast-tracking consent process announced by the Government earlier today.

1News are reporting: Any companies taking advantage of the fast-track process would be exposed to scrutiny “next time there is a change of Government,” said Shaw.
This could include loss of the consent without compensation.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Jordan Williams is slamming the comments as economic sabotage:

“Threatening utu - and deliberately undermining regulatory stability and compensation for loss is nothing less than economic sabotage. Shaw knows full well that his comments will send chills down the back of the very people we need to be investing in New Zealand to build infrastructure and green investments.

“Shaw is supposed to be the reasonable end of the Green Party. For him to make threats like this is straight out of the Trump playbook and puts New Zealand’s interests second to his own seeking of a very expensive headline.

“We too have concerns about the Government’s approach. But the opposition can fight a law without resorting to economic vandalism. James Shaw should be ashamed."

Coalition Sticking Plasters Over New Zealand’s Infrastructure Crisis

Responding to the Coalition Government’s announcement of a fast-track consenting process for major infrastructure projects, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said:

“Clearly red tape is holding New Zealand back, and the Government should be commended for recognising that out-of-date consenting regulations are choking the economy. But this is a sticking plaster solution which will still leave the RMA stifling development and keeping house prices unattainably high.

“The key to growth is getting bureaucracy out the way. That means prioritising work on the Government’s planned wholesale reform to replace the RMA with something fit for purpose that protects private property rights and encourages productive investment.”

Peter Williams: The Nats are locking in co-governance of fresh water

Peter Williams

This email is longer than usual, but is the most important email I've sent in a long time.

It relates to what many of us would consider the critical issue facing New Zealand: which direction the Government takes in terms of ‘Treaty principles’, democratic accountability, and so-called ‘partnership obligations’. 

It is becoming clear the new Government is continuing down Labour's path of undemocratic and costly co-governance due to pressure from the bureaucracy who are using incorrect or misinterpreted legal advice to force co-governance into our democracy.

I am asking for your support so the Taxpayers' Union can mount a public campaign calling on the new Government to do what the last Government wouldn’t: release the legal advice underpinning this nonsense. New Zealanders need to know what reasons, if any, underpin the Wellington consensus. The people need it to discuss, analyse and debate whether the Treaty of Waitangi should really trump democratic decision making.

The legal assertions that led to Three Waters 'co-governance'

In recent years, opportunistic politicians (cheered on by captured Government officials) have claimed that the question of who “owns” water in New Zealand has become vexed.

Recall that the whole basis of Labour’s Three Waters policy was the claim by Nanaia Mahuta that she had received advice from Crown Law that said Three Waters-style ‘co-governance’ was required for the Crown to comply with its obligations under the Treaty.

To say that this legal interpretation was a departure from the historical norm that the Crown is sovereign (and therefore Parliament has full rights to decide the laws that will govern natural resources) is an understatement. 

Last year, the Taxpayers' Union raised funds to support the Water Users' Group request to the High Court for a declaration of what the law actually says about the alleged partnership. The then Labour Government threw the kitchen sink at us. They even tried to get a court order suppressing further public reference (including in court) to Ms Mahuta’s claims about the legal advice on co-governance. That could have stopped us from talking to you about it. .

The Water Users’ Group asked the court to order disclosure of the advice, at least to the lawyers and the court, though it was information that every New Zealander should be free to see. The two KCs pointed out that Ms Mahuta had publicly disclosed not just the fact of the advice but the alleged conclusions to justify Three Waters. On conventional reasoning that had waived her claim to legal privilege. The Court refused to suppress mention of what had been Nanaia Mahuta's Three Waters Cabinet papers. After all, she had authorised making them publicly available on the Beehive website.

But {{recipient.first_name}}, it became clear that we would be throwing good money after bad to continue to support the judicial review. The High Court expressed no interest in seeing the advice, despite the ramifications on New Zealand's democracy! Nor did the Court of Appeal. And from reviewing some other recent decisions of senior courts, the Water Users’ Group lawyers could not be confident that orthodox and historical legal principles would prevail against the new judicial activism on the Treaty.

Nevertheless, supporting the legal case did at least force media and political attention to the potential corruption in the Three Waters governance proposals.

And eventually, National, ACT, and NZ First all committed to scrapping Three Waters.

Now the new Government appears to be falling into the same trap.

While we all hoped that Christopher Luxon's Government would decisively reject the path towards race-based rights that undermine democratic accountability of public services and natural resources, I’m sad to report that simply isn’t the case.

The legal underpinning and justification for Three Waters co-governance, weaponised by Labour and its allies in the media and bureaucracy, has not gone away. In fact, it's getting worse.

The Government is set to keep co-governance of fresh water: rivers, lakes, and rules for agricultural run off will be subject to 'te Mana o te Wai'

As far as we know this is not yet in the public domain, but the Taxpayers’ Union has been informed by a very reliable source within the Government that the reason the new Government has not repealed David Parker’s unworkable fresh water National Policy Statement is because ministers have been advised that changing the race-based (and impossibly high) water standards cannot be done without iwi consent.

These are the water quality standards that are so high that, according to expert advice to the last Government, it is not even certain rivers inside the national parks will meet them! Prior to the election, the parties now in Government committed to abolishing the standards (which also contain the race-based provisions) .

The Standards require regional councils to create plans that promote “te Mana o Te Wai” (literally meaning, ‘the Mana of the water’).

It's not even a disguised version of co-governance. Local council plans must allow tangata whenua to be "actively involved in decision-making processes relating to Maori freshwater values" as defined by relevant tangata whenua. Regional councils must also "work with tangata whenua to investigate the use of mechanisms ... such as transfers or delegations of power [and] joint management agreements."

It's not often the Taxpayers' Union march to the defence of local councils, but the requirements put them in an impossible position.

The social and economic wellbeing of communities who collect and use the water must come second to whatever a local iwi says upholds te Mana o Te Wai.

These obligations, introduced by the last Government, remain in place. That means regional councils up and down the country are spending millions of ratepayers' money to create these new policies that implement te Mana o Te Wai.

The election gave a very clear democratic mandate that these anti-democratic water provisions would be gone within the first 100 days. But officials are telling Ministers "you can't do that". 

Ministry for the Environment officials told Ministers that Cabinet and Parliament cannot act unilaterally because iwi have property interests in water.

To put it simply: Just a few months into the new Government, Ministers are effectively being overruled by officials because officials are still asserting an apparent Treaty obligation that fresh water must be co-governed.

We can not allow what is just an assertion to become repeated enough so that it becomes "the truth"

A few weeks ago, Chris Hipkins made a claim on TVNZ’s Q&A that 

“Māori have a legally established interest in the water, they went through the court process to do that. So the 50/50 co-governance model that we were proposing for the water entities was one way of recognising that.”

Chris Hipkins' claim is misleading at best. But there is a real risk that it becomes accepted as a (false) "fact". While there may have been recognition of the possibility or likelihood of interests in a limited number of water bodies, our lawyers tell us that there has been no legal establishment of rights that would equate to anything as radical as the race/ancestral privileges that were to have been conferred under the Treaty or euphemism known as co-governance.

Nevertheless, we now know that Ministries in Wellington believe it is the law and are using the assertion to overrule the new Government's democratic mandate. 

I am asking for your support {{recipient.first_name}} to mount a fight for democratic control of water, before it is too late.

The constitutional crisis Wellington don't want us to talk about

I do not think it is an exaggeration to state that there is a quiet constitutional crisis going on in Wellington – just who has sovereignty? Are officials responsible for carrying out the wishes of Parliament, or are they bound to some sort of supreme Treaty law or co-governance framework? I am sad to say that we are becoming more aware of areas where officials are operating under the latter.

{{recipient.first_name_or_friend}}, all roads lead back to the infamous Three Waters advice which the public has still not seen. Will you help us force the new Government to make public the advice? Only then can New Zealanders can have the debate, and challenge the 'accepted wisdom' in Wellington that water must be co-governed.

The spring from which this co-governance concept was hatched was the original piece of Crown Law advice that Nanaia Mahuta referred to in her Cabinet Papers to claim that Three Waters co-governance was necessary for the Crown to comply with the Treaty. We say that New Zealanders ought to know what the Government is hearing from its own lawyers on the alleged Treaty Partnership obligations – especially now that the same argument is being used to undermine the promises made by the Government prior to the election.

I don't really care whether Nanaia Mahuta was telling the truth or not. This is much more important than political point scoring. If she over-egged or misled her Cabinet colleagues about the contents of the Crown Law advice, that would be a great first step in rebutting this nonsense! That's just one reason why we need to mount a public campaign to force the new Government to release it.

If the advice is as radical as Ms Mahuta, Mr Hipkins, and the bureaucrats all claim, then we must uncover the anti-democratic arguments to expose them for what they are: inconsistent with liberal democracy and democratically accountable government.

Unless we show that the arguments lack a real legal foundation, the assertion that the Treaty trumps the ability of Parliament to regulate water will soon become accepted as ‘law’. The public need to see the advice so there is a chance to offer counter-arguments.

And the key issue: what role should lawyers play in determining whether and how fast New Zealand’s democratic principles go down the river? Whatever the answer, it should be done in the open, not within Crown Law suppressed from public scrutiny.

Just like Three Waters, we need to force the politicians and media to ask the tough questions. Unless the Taxpayers’ Union do it, who else will?

The tough conversation New Zealand needs to have

{{recipient.first_name_or_friend}}, you’ve seen the way the media (and, sadly, Christopher Luxon’s National Party) are desperate for New Zealand to avoid the so-called ‘Treaty Principles’ debate. Like you did for Three Waters, will you support the Taxpayers' Union so we can go where the media will not?

Christopher Luxon has little interest in furthering what he perceives to be a vexed race-issue in a media environment where it will not receive a fair hearing. Why would Mr Luxon go out on a limb, when what the media will term the “expert legal advice” could well force him to take a stand? That's why, ironically, the Prime Minister needs third party groups like the Taxpayers’ Union to lead this – just like we did for Three Waters. To do that, I am relying on your generous support.

Release the advice: Who owns water in New Zealand?

Release the advice

{{recipient.first_name_or_friend}}, if you agree that this is an important issue, I’m asking you to stand with the Taxpayers’ Union once more. 

Left to fester, undisturbed and unchallenged, it's only a matter of time before the lawyers within the Government embed co-governance to rust away at our democracy. 

To support our campaign to force the officials to “Release the Advice”, to save democratic accountability, and ensure the control of fresh water remains under democratic control, click here.

For the sake of the future of our country, I hope you’re with us.

Peter Williams

Peter Williams sig
Peter Williams
Financial Supporter and Former Board Member
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

ps. Like Three Waters, this is a political fight as much as a legal one. Just like Scrapping Three Waters, it won't be easy to force the media to ask the right questions. Your support means the Taxpayers' Union can mount a grassroots effort to protect democratic accountability and slay the dragon of co-governance' which is threatening democratic accountability.

pps. The Taxpayers' Union is a grassroots-funded effort. Without your support, it's clear the new Government will be on its own and the officials and special interests will win out with their plan to implement co-goverance for fresh water (and whatever follows).

 

If tearing down Premier House is cheaper, then get it done

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for all options to be on the table in terms of having a Premier house fit for purpose. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Even fiscal hawks would agree that we need a Premier residence suitable to host dignitaries. But a $30 million price tag for repairs to the current Premier House is excessive.

“We can’t have yet another situation where ‘historic building’ zealots are allowed a blank cheque to do up a cruddy building, when a new one would be better value for money.  Nor should taxpayers be tied to the status quo. Premier House used to be out in the Hutt.  If finding a new location and building for the Prime Minister to live in and host events offers better value for money, then so be it.

“But the status quo is unacceptable. Right now, taxpayers pay for a Premier House, but it’s not in a fit state for the PM to use it. The more dithering, the more this is costing.”

Taxpayers’ Union urges Masterton District Council to prioritise ratepayers over legacy projects

 

Commenting on Masterton District Council’s plans to demolish the town hall and municipal building to build a new hall, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The Council’s plan to spend a combined cost of $49 million on demolishing and rebuilding the town hall, municipal building and expanding Waiata House is yet another example of wasteful spending on nice-to-haves by councils at a time when ratepayers are staring down the barrel of a 9.3% rates hike.

“The logical option is to demolish the town hall and municipal buildings and retain Waiata House and Queen St premises, which would cost only $3.35 million, saving Masterton ratepayers’ $45.65 million which would otherwise be funded by eye-watering rates hikes.

“We commend the council for putting out this less costly option to ratepayers for consultation but it should not simply be a box-ticking exercise for a predetermined decision of the Council’s preferred more expensive option. During consultation, we urge the Council to consider the needs of the large number of ratepayers struggling with the cost of living, rather than just the wishes of special interest groups willing to use other people’s money on the project.”

Councils can save money on LGOIMA responses by being more transparent

 

NztuReacting to reports that New Plymouth District Council is establishing a dedicated Local Government Official Information Act (LGOIMA) officer as part of a restructure, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“While putting transparency and accountability to ratepayers front of mind in the council should be applauded, the Council should be taking this further and proactively publishing as much information online as possible, removing the need for people to request official information in the first place.

“As the largest user of the OIA in the country, the need for many of our requests could be eliminated entirely if, for example, all expenses were proactively published online. Councils already centrally collect and code this information, it would simply be a matter of exposing it to some much-needed sunlight.

“This is not a rare model internationally. Many US states publish all expenses and contracts online allowing citizens to analyse and identify waste from home while also increasing the likelihood that frivolous spending is caught out, often preventing it from happening in the first place."


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