Responding to Wellington City Council’s approval of plans to spend up to $147 million more of ratepayers’ money on the city’s town hall, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Whilst pipes are leaking, roads are crumbling and costs of living are climbing out of control, Wellington City Council have voted to raise the potential cost of the town hall restoration project to over $1,500 per resident. As a Castalia report reveals Wellington City Council is set to blow its budget by $1 billion, quite how the council could justify considering burning hundreds of millions propping up numerous crumbling heritage sites whilst basic services fail beggars belief.

“Council officials have railroaded this decision, providing one-sided information to elected representatives and demanding a decision be taken before proper scrutiny of their advice can take place. Credit must be given to Councillor McNulty for recognising the enormous opportunity costs of this project and calling for time to investigate more cost-effective options, while also encouraging the council to explore a local bill to ensure they don’t end up in the exact same position again in the near future with other buildings.

“A huge chunk of the costs and delays associated with demolishing the buildings stem from heritage-status red tape, but despite what officials would have you believe this is completely avoidable.

“A local bill must be sought to allow Wellington Council to de-list buildings by simple majority. A local bill was progressed by Tasman District Council in relation to a water augmentation scheme in 2018, taking only four months to pass through Parliament. Years of legal battles and spiralling costs can easily be avoided so that Wellington can start focusing on getting the basics right again."

Responding to news that the median weekly rent has risen yet another 6.7% this year in Wellington, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Rents are spiralling because there aren’t enough rental properties to go around, it really is as simple as that. More tenants are competing for less spaces, and so rent continues to rise uncontrollably.

“This crisis has only been worsened by the previous Government's war on landlords that has simply made it too expensive and bureaucratic to build or rent out housing. The only way to ease the city’s rental crisis is to increase supply, and that cannot happen under our cripplingly restrictive resource management regime. National’s commitment to scrap the Natural and Built Environment Act is a small start, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the major RMA reform needed to get New Zealand building again.

"Advocates of even more regulation miss the point as further red tape will only reduce supply and make rent more expensive. Making it cheaper and easier to build more houses will force landlords to compete for tenants, driving down weekly rents and encouraging a higher standard of accommodation for all."

Responding to the Auditor General's comments in his 2022/23 annual report that “It is still too hard to to tell what New Zealanders are receiving for about $160 billion of central government expenditure each year, and whether or not this is value for money", Taxpayers' Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:

"This report is a strong challenge to an outgoing government where spending was clearly out of control. The Auditor General's comments will echo the sentiments of many Kiwis who see the Government spending more money, feel the pain of higher inflation and taxes, but see little in the way of improvement to public services.

"Parliament's Standing Orders Committee has recommended an inquiry into performance reporting, but this simply does not go far enough. In the election, National promised to reintroduce targets across the public sector while ACT pledged to hold chief executives accountable for the performance of their departments. This report simply reiterates the importance of making good on these promises."

Responding to reports that Christchurch City ratepayers are staring down an 18% rate rise or significant cuts to key services so the Council can pay down $2 billion in debt, Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:

“As with many other councils across the country, Christchurch City Council’s excessive spending on nice-to-haves and poor budget management has led to the enormous hole they now find themselves in.

“Our 2023 Ratepayers’ Report revealed that the Council had nearly three times as many staff on its books as similarly sized Wellington City Council and paid more than 30% of them salaries over $100,000.

“Councils often like to fear monger by presenting the false choice of exorbitant rates hikes or cuts to essential services. Instead, Christchurch City Council should be looking to cut the waste, including back office personnel, management, communications and consultancy, or selling off assets."

Commenting on today’s news that the CPI has still dropped only marginally to 5.6%, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“For the 28th month in a row, the Reserve Bank has failed to hold inflation to within the target range. With inflation still sitting at an unsustainably high 5.6%, hardworking Kiwis struggling to make ends meet will be hurting most from this news and the only question that will matter today is for how long they will keep being punished for flagrant and wasteful Government spending?

“Whilst other nations are nearing a return to the 3% target range, Kiwis are still seeing food and fuel prices spiral out of control. Any incoming Government must hold the Reserve Bank and its leadership accountable for their failure to meet their targets. Moreso, this is simply proof that Labour’s introduction of a dual mandate for RBNZ has not worked and the Reserve Bank must return to its single focus on inflation.

“The IMF’s pleas for the Government to put the needs of working people first are still falling on deaf ears. With the price of food, petrol and other necessities still spiralling out of control, the only solution is a return to credible economic management and an end to reckless and inflationary overspending. Unfortunately, the deadly combination of high inflation and high interest rates looks set to stick around for a while yet. With National promising to maintain 98% of Labour’s spending, any incoming Government must go further and faster to cut the waste.”

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with economist Michael Reddell. Michael is a former Head of Financial Markets at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, has worked for central banks of a number of other countries and has been an Alternate Executive Director on the Board of the International Monetary Fund.

Michael has recently been raising concerns around the seemingly declining standards in New Zealand public life. Whether it be Ministers (or their appointees) lying to the public, government contracts going to Ministers’ family members or undisclosed shareholdings, Michael is concerned that these instances of inappropriate (or at least perceived as being inappropriate) behaviour are becoming increasingly excused, justified or ignored by politicians and the media. 

Also discussed in the podcast is Michael’s concerns around the ease with which politicians have been able to quickly move into highly-paid private sector positions, particularly those in sectors where the Government has a significant influence on their success such as banking. Michael points to the recent example of Sir John Key, the Chairman of New Zealand’s largest bank, who was also involved in the National Party election campaign. While he does not say that anyone has acted dishonourably, Mr Reddell says that, for the sake of public trust and integrity, we need systems and processes in place that let the public have confidence that people are behaving appropriately, especially when politicians may be potentially making significant decisions around regulation, or taxpayer-funded bailouts if things go wrong.

Michael's blog, Croaking Cassandra, can be read 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 Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

With the final week of the election campaign nearly over, the race seems to be tightening. Two of this week's three major polls have the Centre Left bloc ahead of the Centre Right. So get your popcorn out; Saturday night could be a bumpy ride!

Exposing sock-puppet electric car industry campaigners spreading misinformation about the benefits of Tesla subsidies 🤫

This week, we blew the whistle on a taxpayer-funded 'charity' group that is actively campaigning against the National and ACT  parties and lobbying for expensive and ineffective electric vehicle (EV) subsidies.

We called out the Better NZ Trust for their deceptive six-figure campaign across social media and billboards claiming – falsely – that the removal of EV subsidies will ‘increase’ New Zealand’s emissions and harm the climate, despite knowing full well that vehicle emissions are covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Contrary to their misleading advertising, any reduced transport emissions from subsidies for Teslas, just makes emissions credits available (and cheaper) for other polluters. See explainer here.

Here are some of the misleading ads – which you may have seen online, or on billboards across the country.

Looking into the group further, we discovered that their founder is none other than Steve West who is also the founder, director and shareholder of ChargeNet NZ – the largest network of electric charge stations. In addition, the private company has received more than $7 million in corporate welfare from Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) to subsidise their commercially operated charging stations.

We say it is time for the Charities Commission to step in and stop what is clearly a front group for industry misleading Kiwis for political (and financial gain).

By all means the likes of Steve West (and other members of the electric car/charging industry) can lobby and campaign – but using a taxpayer-funded 'charity' (meaning it's tax deductible) to mislead voters on an issue as important as climate change is plain wrong.

Oh, and one more thing. Not only has EECA funded the charging company, EECA is also listed as the primary sponsor of the Trust running the election ads! 

How are the EECA allowing an organisation which lists them as its primary sponsor to play politics and mislead New Zealanders in the very area the EECA are supposed to be experts on?

It's almost as if the climate officials want you to vote Labour to protect their jobs – surely not...

If you watch just one video about climate change policy, make it this! 🙌

The Better NZ Trust would do well to watch this video we released this week from our young Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy.

Connor tackles the poppycock politicians spout about spending billions of taxpayer dollars on so-called measures to tackle climate change. He explains why most of our climate change policies – including the Clean Car Discount – are a complete waste of money and don't reduce a single gram of New Zealand’s overall emissions.

If you care about climate change, make sure you watch Connor's video!

or

If you care about politicians not wasting money on climate change, make sure you watch Connor's video!

We have been calling this nonsense out for years yet almost all politicians and media simply refuse to engage the inconvenient truth. The fact of the matter is that our Emissions Trading Scheme creates a limit on the maximum amount of net emissions (from things such as car exhausts minus removals from things like trees). Throwing taxpayer money at reducing emissions in one industry simply frees up carbon credits to be emitted in others. You'll never look at a clear car discount, or taxpayer funded 'climate' handout again.

Kiwis doing it tough under Government's cost of living crisis 🛒🏚️💸

As reported in Monday's edition of The Post, a new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll on the cost of living has revealed the true harm this Government’s policies are causing New Zealanders. 

The poll confirmed that the large majority of New Zealanders are struggling to make ends meet and this ought to be the real issue of this week's election. Whether it is struggling to afford essential groceries, petrol or other utilities, the poll demonstrates that Kiwis are tightening their belts to afford basic necessities while the Government continues to make the problem worse by spending recklessly.

An incredible 98% of those polled said that their food bills have increased in the past year, 90% said the same for petrol, 68% for utilities and 53% for rents and mortgage.

Out-of-control spending, profligate money printing, and eye-watering debt are not abstract economic ideas – this poll highlights the very real effects that the poor decisions made in Wellington have on those struggling to make ends meet.

79% of respondents believed that Government spending has contributed to the rise in the cost of living in some capacity and 94% want the Government to do more to address this problem. 

Kiwis are feeling the financial and emotional strain of this Government’s policies. It is now more important than ever that wasteful spending is cut right back, and tax relief is delivered to New Zealanders so that they can keep more of what they earn.

As Ruth Richardson put so well on Newshub Nation last weekend, the cost of living crisis has been driven by a cost of government crisis.

You can read the full results of the poll here.

Kiwi Performance Indicators: How is NZ performing? 🧐

It isn't just the amount of public spending that is the problem, it is the poor quality of it too. Despite spending being up by 68% in just six years, delivery on key essential services has been dropping like a stone. Taxpayers deserve value for money, but how do you know what you’re actually getting?

Our friends at thefacts.nz have the answer and have just launched a new website called 'Kiwi Performance Indicators'. This new website meticulously compiles official government statistics alongside polling from IPSOS, Essential, and our very own Taxpayers’ Union – Curia polls. 

For the first time in a New Zealand election, voters have access to an objective dashboard of government performance before heading to the polls. Over time, the team hopes to expand the number of categories available, so make sure you keep checking back so that you have all the stats you need to hold government of all political hues to account. 

Head over to www.kpi.nz to check it out.

Mind the Gap: Public sector pay growth out of control 🚀

Last week, we also published our 2023 Public Sector Wage Gap Report by our researcher, Alex Murphy.  While the difference in average wages between the public and private sector has come down significantly over recent years, Alex's report shows the true extent of the massive staffing increases in our ballooning public sector.

The report reveals how managerial and other back office roles have been prioritised over frontline jobs. Just over the last 5 years, the number of managers and information professionals in the Public Service grew at nearly twice the rate of the uptick in frontline staff in social, education or health work.

Alex's paper also reveals the problem of additional sick leave in the public sector being taken compared to the private sector. If public sector employees took the same number of sick days as those in the private sector, the taxpayer would save $174 million every year.

You can read the full report here.

Public back ACT's proposed Treaty Principles Act 🗳️

As reported in yesterday's NZ Herald, New Zealanders overwhelmingly support ACT's proposal to clarify the definition of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in a new piece of legislation. Of those who expressed a view on the question, more than 3 to 1 supported the proposed principle definitions:

1. The New Zealand Government has the right to govern New Zealand.

2. The New Zealand Government will protect all New Zealanders’ authority over their land and other property.

3. All New Zealanders are equal under the law, with the same rights and duties.

This results suggest that a majority of New Zealanders share our concerns about the erosion of democratic accountability that has arisen from interpretations of the Treaty Principles being decided by the Courts and Public Service rather than by democratically elected representatives.

A fundamental principle of democracy is that of accountability: The ability to remove bad or ineffective decision makers from office. Some interpretations of the Treaty Principles – which have not been voted on by Parliament – erode this principle. This poll shows voters do not agree with the path these interpretations have taken.

What are the parties saying on tax? 🧾

ACT Party: ACT has by far the most taxpayer-friendly tax plan of all of the parties; however, it is still a long way off our ideal tax system. We would like to see a further simplification and lowering of taxes as fiscal conditions allow. The party plans to simplify the tax system down to 3 rates from the current 6 over the next couple of years (a watering down of their earlier policy due to worse than forecast government debt), return ETS revenue to households, abolish the bright-line test and reverse the Government's rental interest deductibility changes and get rid of the ute tax. 

National Party: National is offering a minor inflation adjustment to income tax brackets but this only adjusts for two years’ inflation and kicks in on July 1 2024. Ongoing adjustments will only occur every three years, and at the discretion of the minister. Other notable tax changes include the removal of the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax and the ute tax.  The ability to depreciate commercial buildings will be scrapped, but residential rental properties will have full deductibility of interest expenses phased in by 1 April 2026. Foreign buyers of residential property will be allowed to purchase properties of $2 million or more upon paying a 15% tax on the purchase price. Legitimate concerns have been raised by economists over whether National’s foreign buyers tax figures add up, but National has not effectively addressed these concerns.

New Zealand First: The party pledges to introduce a tax-free threshold by 2027, and inflation adjust income tax brackets with the first adjustment occurring in 2027 and every 3 years after that. They want to look at taking GST off basic foods through a select committee inquiry, introduce subsidies for gaming and movie sectors, and a lower tax rate for select businesses. It is encouraging that NZ First wants to set a limit on government spending; however, the level that they have decided to set the cap at is higher than what we are currently spending now. 

Labour Party: The party's flagship policy is taking GST off unprocessed fruit and vegetables – you can read our report here about why this is a very bad idea. They also want regular increases of fuel excise duty over 3 years, totalling 14 c/L including GST, with an equivalent increase to road-user charges. And the party plans to remove tax-deductible depreciation expenses for non-residential buildings.

Green Party: They want a complete change to the income tax brackets and tax rates with a new tax-free rate up to $10,000 and a top tax rate of 45% for incomes over $180,000. The Greens also want to see a lift in the corporate tax rate from 28% to 33%, and new wealth taxes of 1.5% p.a. on the value of assets held in a private trust and 2.5% p.a. of net assets over $2 million for an individual.

Te Pāti Māori: This is the most radical proposal and not in a good way. The party wants to see GST removed from all food, an increase in the corporate tax rate from 28% to 33%, a $30,000 income tax free threshold, and a range of new tax rates on income as high as 48%. They are also campaigning on introducing wealth taxes as high as 8% per year, a tax on foreign companies, a 33% vacant land, and vacant house tax.

But tax relief funded by borrowing is illusionary 👻 

Of course, the only real tax cut is a spending cut – everything else is just timing.

So for all of these parties, the focus must be on cutting back wasteful spending in order for tax relief to be delivered, slowing down inflation, getting us back to meaningful growth and slaying the looming debt monster. 

Winston's right of reply 📺

We've been copping it from all sides by those who are pro and those anti-Winston Peters – and whether concerns that he could unexpectedly return the current government assuming the polls are right and NZ First holds the balance of power. 

It's not for us to tell you who to vote for – our role is to highlight and critique policies and hold the politicians to account.

Ruth Richardson made her concerns pretty clear earlier in the week, but we've had assurances from both Winston Peters and Casey Costello (a former Taxpayers' Union board chair, who is now #3 on the NZ First party list) that going with Labour for another term is out of the question.

Reasonable minds may differ on whether to trust Mr Peters. Recall he went with National's Jim Bolger in 1996 despite campaigning to "change the government" the same year. But on the other hand, (and as a right of reply to our earlier emails), Peters and his team couldn't be much clearer in a recently published campaign video:

Judge for yourself

Having fielded emails and calls from those annoyed with our emails questioning whether Peters can be trusted, we'll no doubt receive grumblings from our National and ACT party supporters now as a result of this email. 😳  So thank goodness for the privacy of the voting booth!

But, one this is for sure, {{recipient.first_name_or_friend}}: the Taxpayers' Union will hold all parties to account for their promises, regardless of what the next Parliament looks like.

Have a great weekend. 

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald Election 2023: Audrey Young - Labour MPs need basic lessons in campaign discipline

Stuff Tova – Left Turn (01:00:47)

NZ Herald Election 2023: NZ First shoots up in new poll, Luxon preferred PM over Hipkins

RNZ Winston Peters remains kingmaker in latest Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll

NewstalkZB Election Fix: 6 October 2023 – Poll

The Post Giant escape key destroyed after one day in New York

NewstalkZB Afternoon Edition: 06 October 2023 (00:22)

NewstalkZB Jason Walls: Newstalk ZB political editor on two new polls showing Chris Luxon will need Winston

Newsroom Luxon impresses in Taranaki, still doesn’t know Winston

NZ Herald On The Campaign: The minor parties make their case - can TOP join them in Parliament? (02:35, 18:42)

NewstalkZB Heather du Plessis-Allan: What has happened to David Seymour?

Newshub Election 2023: Winston Peters guards path to power as Hipkins resumes attacks on National's tax plan

NZ Herald Election 2023: New poll shows whether Kiwis believe Winston Peters’ Labour promise

The Post National, Labour turn up the sledging as polls show NZ First in decisive position

NZ City One week out from the election, and Winston Peters is eyeing up the kingmaker position again

Newshub Election 2023: Infamous 'Mother of all Budgets' curator, former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson accuses National and Labour of 'heroic assumptions'

Otago Daily Times Luxon remains focused on National-Act govt

Newshub Election 2023 poll: More than half of voters don't trust Winston Peters on ruling out Labour

The Post The last week: Cost of living still the main game

RNZ Election 2023: Labour, National renew attacks on each other's costings

Newstalk ZB Kerre Woodham: Misinformation and attack ads (2:53)

Newsroom Chlöe can’t count on cannabis this time

RNZ AK's Tamaki electorate coming down to ACT or National

Newstalk ZB John MacDonald: Attacks ads - Entertaining? Yes. Influential? No

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Could National really lose the unlosable election?

NZ Herald Election 2023: Majority would support Act’s Treaty referendum, although voters unsure if they want to vote on it

NZ Herald Election 2023: Coalition options - can Winston Peters be trusted not to work with Labour?

The Daily Blog What would a National-ACT-NZ First Govt do for cannabis?

NZ Herald Election 2023: Haven’t voted? Undecided? Two divergent paths explained, and what you need to know to make a decision

Newsroom One vote for the media

1News Tāmaki - what the data shows about National-ACT battleground

Gisborne Herald Expect Peters to maximise leverage

Stuff Election 2023: The electorates that may decide the shape of the next government

The new 2023 Lifetime Tax Report from the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union investigates the total lifetime tax burden paid by Kiwis in all income deciles. In doing so, we hope to start debate around the real cost of government crisis being faced by working families up and down the country.
 
Through higher rates and bracket creep, we all know that the amount of income tax we pay year-on-year is spiralling out of control. But far too few people know the real cost of other taxes, particularly consumption taxes such as GST and fuel duties.
 
Utilising sources such as Statistics NZ, the Household Economic Survey and Treasury’s APITRE tool, this study analyses the spending habits of New Zealanders to approximate the total amount of tax which would be paid at current rates and prices across a lifetime.
 
Key findings of the report:

> At current prices and rates, the average New Zealander will pay a total of $1,096,777.97 (± 4.52%) in tax across his or her lifetime.

> At this income, the average New Zealand taxpayer will spend the equivalent of 22.65 years (± 4.52%) of their life working just to pay their tax burden.

> This is equivalent to 33.43% of their life between the ages of 15 and 82.75 (weighted average life expectancy).

> The average New Zealander will earn $3,155,713.44 in their lifetime and pay $1,096,777.97 in tax. This means that of everything the average New Zealander earns between the ages of 15 and 82.75, they will pay 34.76% to the Government in tax.

> As expected, income tax makes up a larger proportion of the tax burden of high-income individuals.

> However, sin taxes such as those on alcohol and cigarettes disproportionately punish those on lower incomes.

Commenting on the release of the 2023 Lifetime Tax Report, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser and author of the report, James Ross, said:
 
“We now live in a country where nobody actually knows how much they’re paying in tax every year. They can see that government spending on bloated bureaucracies and vanity projects is spiralling out of control, but there is little clarity on how much of that bloat they’ve paid for.
 
“By shining a light on just how much of their lives New Zealanders spend funding the Government, hopefully New Zealand can start an informed debate about the unsustainability of our current levels of government waste. Wasted taxes are hard-earned by New Zealanders, and they have every right to know exactly how far they’re being taken for a ride.
 
“This report also displays the ways in which the burdens of various taxes are distributed across income levels. For instance, as we have long argued, sin taxes such as those on cigarettes and alcohol disproportionately punish poorer New Zealanders. Hopefully the impact these have will give some food for thought as to the effects moralising tax policies have on those with least to give.”

Commenting on a series of information releases under the OIA which reveal that Te Whatu Ora is failing to address the Planned Care Taskforce's recommendations for improvement made last October, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Since the District Health Boards were disbanded by this Labour Government, New Zealand has had one of the most centralised health systems in the world. It’s no coincidence that at the same time as local control over healthcare has been stripped away, outcomes have worsened and plans to improve healthcare in regional areas have fallen by the wayside.

“The Ministerial Advisory Committee was established last year with just one job – drag the behemoths that are our two health systems up to standard. The Committee’s inability to break through Te Whatu Ora’s closed-shop bureaucracy demonstrates that this Government has created a beast that even they can’t control.

“Much like with Te Pūkenga’s inability to provide quality education, the results of this government’s love affair with central control are clear. Over-centralisation does not work, and key services are plummeting across the board as a result. Before wrenching control of water infrastructure and resource management away from local bodies, Labour need to stop and look at the evidence in front of their eyes.

“Serious reform across the public sector is needed to bring services back up to snuff, but removing local accountability is empirically making things worse, not better.”

Responding to news from Wellington Water that the Wellington region is losing the equivalent of 30 Olympic-sized pools in water every day due to decaying pipes, Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves said:

“Historical failure to invest in key infrastructure may have led to this current water catastrophe, but unfortunately, it’s still clear that Wellington councils collectively are more concerned with vanity projects than they are with providing essential services to their communities.

“Whether it be Hutt City Council’s $34.2m events centre, Wellington City Council’s Golden Mile fantasy, or Porirua City Council’s $98,000 ‘smiley face’ logo, it’s clear that councils across the region have been happy to put wants over needs in recent years at the cost of the ratepayer.

“While these councils may continue to proclaim that a lack of funds has resulted in this chronic underinvestment to their water infrastructure, it’s obvious that in other areas of their budgets, the money is not being well spent.

“If councils want to ensure that infrastructure failures like this don’t emerge in the future, then councillors need to take accountability for the current situation and look to ensure that the provision of essential services going forward is stabilised before embarking on any new pet projects."

A new Taxpayers Union – Curia poll has found that 47% of Kiwis want planning powers to remain with local councils rather than be transferred to new regional planning committees made up of council, Government, and iwi and hapū appointees. With only 24% in favour of the Government’s RMA reforms and 28% undecided, the Natural and Built Environment and Spatial Planning Acts, which replace the former Resource Management Act, has a net support of negative 23 points amongst New Zealanders.

There is more support than opposition for planning and resource allocation decisions remaining with local councils across every age, area, gender and preferred party demographic with the exception of Green voters who favour the centralization.

The full polling report can be found here.

Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said: 

“New Zealanders clearly do not support the current Government’s Wellington-knows-best attitude of taking more and more powers away from our local councils into the centre. While the Resource Management Act is a dog and has led to a housing and infrastructure crisis, David Parker’s replacement will lead to even higher building costs, more red tape, no local control, and more co-governance.

“Rather than strip powers away from councils, the Government should instead look to improve the incentives for them to grow by ensuring they are properly compensated for infrastructure upgrades through arrangements like GST sharing. Whichever parties are in a position to form a Government after the election should go back to the drawing board and reform the planning system so that it promotes local control, certainty, simplicity and private property rights.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is raising the alarm about greenwashing by the Better NZ Trust – a taxpayer-funded charity – to promote the interests of the EV industry. The Trust is running a deceptive six-figure campaign across social media and billboards claiming – falsely – that the removal of EV subsidies will ‘increase’ New Zealand’s emissions and harm the climate, despite knowing full well that vehicle emissions are covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Jordan Williams, said:

“We first became aware of this group by coming across the deceptive advertising. But looking into the Trust further, we see that the founder is none other than the Steve West who is also the founder, director and shareholder of ChargeNet NZ – a private company that has received more than $7 million in corporate welfare from Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) to subsidise their commercially operated charging stations.”

“Far from being a ‘charity’ in the philanthropic sense, this trust looks to play a sock puppet role for corporate interests cloaked in greenwashing and taxpayer funding. Their campaign is trading on the public’s lack of understanding of the ETS to smear political parties whose policies affect their commercial interests.”

“The Trust’s ads claim that the Clean Car Discount ‘helps fight climate change’, when (at best) electric cars simply shift emissions from transport and allow for cheaper emissions elsewhere under the fixed cap ETS. ETS denial is worse than climate denial – it makes it harder for New Zealand to reach its emission targets.”

“EECA’s funding has been to cover costs of roadshows and list building, used by the Trust to lobby for subsidies for industry and more money for EECA! According to the Meta Ad Library, the misleading campaign has reached more than two million New Zealanders on Facebook alone. They have publicly stated that they intend to spend $100,000 during this election campaign.”

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is clear that ‘if a cap-and-trade system has a sufficiently stringent cap then other policies such as renewable subsidies have no further impact on total GHG emissions’. National and ACT are following this advice when committing to scrap the clean car discount and allowing the ETS to function. This self-described ‘Better NZ’ trust is trying to undermine this with disinformation which actually serves to make climate change mitigation more expensive.”

“It’s time for the Charities Commission to step in. Charities law requires charities to educate and advocate in a 'relatively objective and balanced way'. Here a charity is spending up large on a political campaign that is dishonest and harms the climate change effort in a commercially beneficial way to its funders. They can dress it in as much greenwashing language as they like, but the Charities Commission cannot let it stand.

“EECA also has some explaining to do. How are they allowing an organisation which lists EECA as its primary sponsor to not only play politics with taxpayer money but do so in the most disreputable way? This EECA-funded trust is misleading New Zealanders in the very area EECA are supposed to be experts on.”

An example of the deceptive political advertisements can be seen here. 

A new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll has revealed that 63% of New Zealanders support inflation adjustment of income tax brackets compared to just 14% who are opposed.

There was majority support across every demographic (gender, age, area, economic status, and preferred political party).

The Taxpayers’ Union has launched a new website to Axe the Inflation Tax which includes a tax calculator, explainer and FAQ addressing some of the common misconceptions about tax bracket indexation.

The full polling report can be found here.

Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said: 

“New Zealanders are really feeling the heat of bracket creep with inflation forcing them to pay more and more tax, even when their real income is not increasing. The inflation tax hits workers with a second blow on top of rising prices caused by inflation and unnecessarily drives up the cost of living even further.“

"With majority support from every demographic, it is clear that it is now only the politicians standing in the way of this common-sense tax reform. With benefits, student loan living costs and superannuation already adjusted for inflation, along with excise taxes on fuel, alcohol and tobacco, it is high time that those who pay the bills stop getting slapped with annual stealth tax hikes.

“Politicians are more than happy to make these changes when it gets them more money to spend, less so when it means they lose out on additional tax revenue each year. We are calling on all New Zealanders and politicians to join us in our calls for ‘No Taxation Without Indexation’.”

Cost of Living Bites Taxpayers as They Head to the Polls 

A new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll, focused on the cost-of-living crisis, has revealed the wide-ranging impacts of inflation on households across New Zealand, and who they are blaming for the crisis. 

According to the poll, 99% of respondents believe that the cost of living has significantly or moderately increased. In particular, households have noticed an increase in the cost of food (98%), petrol (90%) and utilities (68%) during the last year. 

Voters are also dissatisfied with how the Government has responded to the cost-of-living crisis. 79% of respondents have said that the Government’s spending has contributed to a rise in the cost of living in some capacity.  

94% of respondents believe that the government should be doing more to address the cost-of-living crisis, with 69% responding that the government should do much more.  

58% of voters think they are paying too much tax while just 6% think they are not paying enough. 

The full polling report can be found here. 

Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said: 

“What is clear from this poll is that the vast majority of New Zealanders are really struggling with the cost of living due to the Government’s out-of-control spending that has been driving up inflation. It is saddening to see that while so many Kiwis are making tough spending choices so that they have enough money to pay the bills, the Government continues to spend at record levels. 

“This poll highlights the very real effects that the poor decisions made in Wellington have on those struggling to make ends meet. Debates around the appropriate level of Government spending are no longer academic arguments, but rather the real financial and emotional strain facing everyone. It is now more important than ever that wasteful Government spending is cut right back, and tax relief is delivered to New Zealanders so that they can keep more of what they earn.” 

Commenting on National’s fuel tax commitment, Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:

“In the middle of a cost of living crisis, hiking fuel taxes – as Labour is still proposing – is morally wrong. Fuel taxes disproportionately hit rural and the poorest communities – such as shift workers – the hardest.

"Ruling out further hikes is the right thing to do. Unless fuel taxes are frozen, very soon tax will be half the cost at the pump again.

“The whole point of fuel taxes is to fund roads maintenance and investment, but the National Land Transport Fund is being used to fund all manner of projects such as public transport, cycleways and loss-making rail services. Wellington could easily increase road investment without hiking fuel taxes by reverting the Fund back to what is was designed for – road maintenance and upgrades.”

A new Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll has found that most New Zealanders don't believe Winston Peters when he says that New Zealand First would not be willing to put the Labour Party back into Government. 

The poll asked: Do you believe Winston Peters when he says he would not work with the Labour Party again?

Yes 27%
No 55%
Unsure 17%

A plurality of respondents across all demographic breakdowns and across supporters of all parties do not believe his pledge not to work with the Labour Party again.

The full results are available here.

Responding to ACT’s plans to allow ministers to be able to publicly issue key performance indicators for public service chief executives, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“For far too long, too many public servants have been taking the taxpayer for an easy ride. If any one of us had spent years patently failing to do our jobs effectively, we would quite rightly expect to be sacked; it’s well past time that high-flying mandarins in cushy Wellington corner offices were held to at least the same standards as the rest of us.”
 
“In just six short years, Government spending has rocketed by nearly 70%. In that time, delivery on vital public services such as health and education has bottomed out. It’s clear that chucking billions at these departments hasn’t worked, and a major public sector cultural change is needed to start getting some bang for the taxpayer's buck again.
 
“Unlike ministers and MPs, the public lack any meaningful way of holding our public servants to account. ACT’s plan to introduce publicly-available key performance indicators for public service chief executives will hopefully be the first step of many towards dragging key public services back up to snuff.”

Responding to news that Pharmac Chief Executive Sarah Fitt took part in a series of personal attacks against journalist Rachel Smalley, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“The strength of our democracy depends on the media being able to hold the government to account, and no public employee is too high-and-mighty to be above proper scrutiny. Unfortunately, far too many public servants act as though government transparency and accountability are nothing more than obstacles to be evaded by any means.
 
“Given Sarah Fitt’s senior role, her responsibility to lead by example should have been clear. The series of messages uncovered by Rachel Smalley show that instead, Fitt not only enabled a culture of disdain for public scrutiny but actively participated in it.
 
“Sarah Fitt has revealed how little respect she has for the public that she is employed to serve, and as such her position as Chief Executive of Pharmac is now completely untenable. She has lost the confidence of the Public Service Commissioner, the Health Minister, the media and the public. The Taxpayers’ Union is therefore joining the calls for Fitt to resign before she damages trust in the integrity of the public service any further.”

Here are the headline results for October's Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll:

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

There are eight days left until polls close, and we have a chockablock update for you this week.

Your humble Taxpayers' Union has been travelling the length of the country towing the Debt Clock to highlight the high levels of Government debt. Right now Grant Robertson's borrowing amounts to more than $82,131 for every kiwi household. That debt our kids (and grandkids) will be paying back! Watch the online version of the debt clock at www.debtclock.nz

The National Party's Auckland Central candidate Mahesh Muralidhar's reaction to Grant Robertson's borrowing... 

And with the debt and big spending, Grant Robertson is waving goodbye to our best and brightest leaving for better economic climbs. Robbo and Chippy's new business, Robbo's Removals, is doing a roaring trade – already having helped 218,000 since 2017 flee! So call Grant Roberston right now on 0800 Tax Flee (0800 829 3533)

So how are things looking with just over a week to go until election day...

NEW POLL – Big movers: ACT down, NZ First up 🚀

Available exclusively to supporters like you, the results of our October Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll are out. 

Here is how these results would translate to seats in Parliament, assuming the Māori Party retains an electorate seat:

National is up 1 seat to 46 while Labour is constant on 35 seats. The Greens have dropped 4 seats to 13 while ACT has dropped 7 seats to 12 . New Zealand First is back in Parliament on these numbers with 9 seats while the Māori Party is up 1 seat on last month to 5. 

This means that neither the Centre-Right bloc who are projected to have 58 seats (down 6 on last month) or the Centre-Left bloc who would have 53 seats (down 3) could form a Government on their own and would require the support of New Zealand First. 

After tying with Chris Hipkins in the Preferred Prime Minister stakes last month, Christopher Luxon pulls ahead on 29% (up 4 points on last month) compared to Hipkins' 27% (up 2 points). David Seymour has dropped 4 points to 4%.

Visit our website for more information – including favourability scores for the party leaders – and details of how to get access to the full polling report.

Chris Hipkins: Taxpayers' Union's number one fan ❤️🏆

While we value all of our supporters equally, it has been particularly gratifying to discover we have fans right at the top of the Beehive! We must be doing something right, as our good friend Chippy hasn't been able to stop talking about your humble Taxpayers' Union and our campaigns.

We have put together a 30-second compilation of some of the shout outs he has given us in the last few weeks. 

👉Watch the video here.

EXPOSED: How much is the Inflation Tax costing you? 🪓💸

After years of campaigning on the issue of inflation tax (or 'bracket creep'), we are delighted to see the issue getting attention from politicians and the media. 

Every year, inflation sees more and more New Zealanders tip into higher tax brackets, even thought their 'real' (inflation-adjusted) income stays the same. It means that we all pay higher and higher average tax rates over time without a single law being passed, or vote in parliament to hike taxes.

They say it takes a crisis to get the support required for necessary reform and, as painful as the current levels of inflation are, it is a perfect opportunity to lock in annual inflation adjustments of income tax brackets. 

While a number of political parties are campaigning on adjusting tax brackets for inflation, none of them is committing to a robust proposal that would actually stop politicians’ from stealthily sticking their fingers into your wallets for more and more tax every year.

No Taxation Without Indexation! 🪧📣 🥁

ACT and the National were both once committed to automatically adjusting tax brackets for inflation.  Now only National has the policy – but the party has watered it down to every three years (just before elections...) and only at Cabinet's discretion 'if fiscal conditions allow'... 😒

We say that's not good enough and have just launched a new website at www.AxeTheInflationTax.nz to make it easy for taxpayers to add their name to the fight against inflation tax and call for income tax bracket indexation.

Use the online calculator to find out how much the inflation tax since 2010 is costing you.

Please also take a moment to sign the petition and let the politicians know where you stand.

WellingtonNZ hits the wrong key ⌨️💥

This week, our Investigation Co-ordinator, Oliver Bryan, exposed WellingtonNZ's pricey hot button issue. WellingtonNZ is Wellington City Council's so-called economic development agency – but they certainly weren't developing Wellington much in forking out a whopping $470,000 on a frivolous marketing charade in New York.

After flying staff to New York they created a huge 'ESC' key, meant to symbolise an 'escape' from the Big Apple to Wellington. But the $130,000 stunt was binned just seven hours after its launch! A ‘delete’ key would have been more appropriate.

With just 100 real-life attendees (passers by) the New York show was a flop at $1,300 per attendee.

We were then told it was about the "online traction".  But we got the figures for that too: a costly $14 per view (for comparison, your humble Taxpayers' Union pays just cents for our online and social media paid campaigns).

Adding insult to injury, a delegate from WellingtonNZ took a six-night keyboard journey to New York for this fleeting seven-hour debacle.

We say that rather than an 'ESC' key, WellingtonNZ needs a factory reset...

The Battle for Tāmaki: Did you catch the fiery debate? 💙🩷

It was great to see a packed house on Tuesday for our final electorate debate ahead of the election in Tāmaki. Our exclusive Taxpayers' Union – Curia electorate poll showed what was once a National stronghold can no longer be considered a safe blue seat. Incumbent National MP, Simon O'Connor, and his main challenger ACT Party Deputy Leader, Brooke van Velden, are locked in a statistical tie.

The debate was fiery and funny with two strong candidates showcasing their alternative visions for the Tāmaki electorate. Simon and Brooke battled it out over law and order, the cost of living, the economy and climate change.

You can watch the replay here.

New Report: The ineffectiveness of a tax-free threshold 🤑🗑️

Both the Greens and Te Pāti Māori have proposed tax-free thresholds as part of their tax plans for this election. Like Labour's GST pledge, it is another policy that might look good at first glance, but as soon as you dig a little deeper, you'll hit fishhooks.

The key problem with tax free thresholds is that they're expensive but result in very little 'bang for buck' in terms of increasing economic output or incentives to work. The economic literature is pretty clear: it's the marginal tax rate that matters. Tax-free thresholds mean than more tax must be collected at the higher ends - meaning less incentives for workers to up skill, increase working hours, or otherwise get ahead.

Our Research Fellow, Jim Rose has written a new report looking at the impacts of implementing a tax-free threshold and concludes that the policy would be an expensive and poorly targeted way of reducing the tax burden and increasing after-tax incomes of New Zealand families.The report demonstrates that – like the GST policy – a tax-free threshold fails to effectively target those people its advocates intends to support with this initiative.

Have a read Jim's full report here.

😬 One more thing – apology to Winston incoming! 🚨

Yesterday we sent an email to many of our supporters asking the question that most people are: Will Winston Peters go with National, or Labour if NZ First are kingmaker?

After the email was sent, Jordan received a very terse (not to be repeated here!) email from Winston himself. Among his complaints was that he did not say in 2017 that he would go with the largest party, rather that he would speak to first the largest party. We apologize for the error.

Winston wants you to know: He won't be calling Hipkins 📵

Mr Peters insists that 'this time it's different', and we note that his Party has released a video stating New Zealand First will not return Labour to power.

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves COO and Head of Campaigns New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:


The Post Winston Peters and the great coalition jockeying game

The Post School lunches, Covid-19 and pseudoephedrine on the campaign trail

Stuff 'My heart couldn’t take it any more': How Northland has become a hotbed of frustration, anger and distrust

Interest.co.nz Those whose salary depends upon them coming to terms with the fact that the beliefs of the paymasters have changed tend to get with the programme pretty smartly, writes Chris Trotter

Asia Pacific Report NZ election 2023: Bryce Edwards: The most hollow campaign in living memory

The Platform Will the racists please stand up?

NZ Herald Election 2023: The Front Bench - Heather du Plessis-Allan, Jordan Williams, Phil O’Reilly, Richard Hills on big political issues

Newstalk ZB The Front Bench: Luxon confirmed he'll work with Peters- could National lose support?

Kiwiblog Grant's new job

Newstalk ZB Taxpayers Union: Tory Whanau being arrogant for taking economic well-being manager on 10-day trip

NZ Herald Election 2023: Chlöe Swarbrick, Mahesh Muralidhar, Oscar Sims and Felix Poole go head to head in Auckland Central debate

Newstalk ZB Poll shows Chlöe Swarbrick in fight to hold Auckland Central

NZ Herald Election 2023 live updates: Green’s Chlöe Swarbrick in fight with National’s Mahesh Muralidhar for Auckland Central

Politik The kindest cuts

Newstalk ZB Live: 'Scaring old ladies' Ginny Andersen hits out at National's Mark Mitchell

The Spinoff Labour’s fiscal plan doubles down on its ‘trust us with your money’ aesthetic

Interest.co.nz Labour says there is enough room on the balance sheet to respond to another economic shock if needed

Newsroom Fiscal plans fly as overseas voting opens

Newsroom Hipkins Angered by Race 'one-liners'

foodticker Grocery code will drive up prices - Taxpayers' Union

Otago Daily Times Benefits of reducing work hours disputed

NZ Herald Election 2023: Child poverty at issue as National, Labour vie over fiscal holes, welfare changes

The Press When two tribes go to war: Who watches leaders' debates?

Waikato Times If that's the solution, was there ever a crisis?

Interest.co.nz National says it doesn’t plan to provide financial support to local councils for water infrastructure under its alternative to Three Waters

NZ Herald Election 2023: Act Party’s Brooke van Velden hot on Nat’s Simon O’Connor’s heels in Tāmaki electorate - poll

Stuff Gore council CEO Stephen Parry says the bullying card is played too often in the workplace environment

NZ Herald Election 2023: Audrey Young - Labour MPs need basic lessons in campaign discipline

NZ Herald Election 2023: National and Act candidates face-off in Auckland

Offsetting Behaviour The problems of a tax-free threshold 

The Daily Blog Tamaki Debate – Winners + Losers (with zero funding from NZ on Air)

National increases 0.9 points on last month to 35.9% while Labour are also up, gaining 1.4 points to take them to 27.9%. ACT have dropped by 5.2 points to 9.1% while the Greens are down 2.1 points to 10.6%.

The smaller parties are NZ First on 6.9% (+3 points), the Māori Party on 3.7% (+0.8 points), TOP on 2.9% (+0.2 points), New Conservatives on 0.7% (-0.1 points), Vision NZ on 0.3% (-0.2 points), and DemocracyNZ on 0.3% (+0.3 points).

National are up one seat on last month to 46 while Labour remain on 35. ACT have dropped 7 seats to 12 while the Greens have dropped 4 to 13. NZ First will re-enter Parliament on these figures, gaining 9 seats from last month for a total of 9 while the Māori Party are up one to 5 seats.

The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right of 58 is down 6 seats on last month, while the Centre-Left bloc’s total is down 3 to 53. Neither bloc would be able to form a government alone, but both could do so in coalition with NZ First.

Both Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins have risen in this month’s preferred Prime Minister polls. Luxon has risen by 4 points to 29%, while Hipkins has gained 2 points to 27%.

David Seymour has dropped 4 points to 4% while 4.5% of people would still prefer Jacinda Ardern (down 2.5%). Chloë Swarbrick is up 1.4 points to 6.1%, Winston Peters is down 0.2 points to 4.3%, Nicola Willis remains unchanged at 2.5%, James Shaw has dropped 0.9 points to 1.2%, and Matt King has dropped 0.6 points to 0.7%. Marama Davidson has gained 0.9 points to 1.2% while Chris Bishop has dropped 0.2 points to 0.1%

More detailed results including polling on favourability ratings of different politicians are available on our website.

The spotlight is firmly on WellingtonNZ, the region's economic development agency, after The Taxpayers' Union has revealed $470,000 spent on an ephemeral overseas marketing event. The centrepiece of this campaign was a $130,000 'ESC' key, as a symbol of 'escaping' to Wellington, only to be destroyed shortly after its brief debut, according to information obtained under the LGOIMA. 

Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator for the Taxpayers' Union, remarked, "WellingtonNZ, bearing the mantle of the region's Economic Development Agency to champion prosperity and improve liveability, has gone seriously astray. Dispatching a staffer to New York to frivolously burn through half a million dollars on a seven-hour 'ESC' key stunt isn't just a display of fiscal irresponsibility; it’s madness.”
 
"And let's not forget that after its mere seven-hour outing on New York’s streets, the $130,000 'ESC' key was destroyed. It's a pity the same level of ruthless expediency wasn’t applied to the plan as a whole before it got off the ground. But hey, at least they encouraged recycling. Kudos for such eco-conscious extravagance."
 
“When you break down the numbers, it's even more egregious: Only 100 people engaged with the stunt on the ground. That’s $1,300 spent for each person who engaged with this ploy and about $14 per online view. Without a concrete method to gauge its impact or any evident influence on immigration trends, this campaign is glaringly emblematic of vanity over value."
 
“The lucky member of staff also spent six nights in New York for this seven-hour stunt. It seems WellingtonNZ doesn't just waste money, but time too."
 
"Rather than advancing prosperity or enhancing Wellington's liveability, this escapade showcases an organisation dishing out heaps for embarrassingly minimal returns. It's a clarion call for a reset, to ensure alignment with goals that genuinely serve Wellingtonians."

The new 2023 Public Sector Wage Gap Report from the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union investigating workforce differences between the public and private sector demonstrates that, while average public sector wages have stagnated recently, the growth in the number of government employees continues to burden the taxpayer, particularly across ministries and Core Crown departments, where back-office appointments have been prioritized over the front line.

With analysis on wage differentials, staffing levels, sick leave habits and annual leave entitlements, this report showcases the true extent of the benefits currently enjoyed by public sector employees. Using a combination of data assorted from a variety of sources including Statistics New Zealand, the Public Service Commission, and from individual departments, the report concludes the following key findings:

Key findings of the report:

• As a percentage of private sector average hourly earnings, the current wage premium for the public sector is 21.3% as of June 2023.
• The wage premium has narrowed significantly over the last decade, fuelled largely by a combination of strong wage growth in the private sector and pay freeze initiatives across high-wage personnel in the public sector.
• Over the last five years, the increase in the total headcount at the public sector has significantly outpaced the headcount increase for the private sector – 15.3% to 9.8%. Over the same period, the combined headcount across ministries and Core Crown departments in the Public Service grew by even more at 27.0%
• Recent appointments at almost all ministries and core departments have shown to prioritize back-office over the front-line. This has caused some departments now to carry a disproportionate share of managerial staff on their payroll. The Ministry of Defence, for example, now has nearly as many managers as it does other staff.
• In 2022, public sector employees took an average of 1.1 days more in sick leave than workers in the private sector – 6.5 to 5.4. If public sector workers took the same amount of sick leave as those in the private sector, taxpayers would have saved over $173 million in 2022. 

Key recommendations:

• With immense pressure expected to mount over next few years regarding public sector wages, it is paramount that the Government commits to restraining wage growth, ensuring that it does not outpace comparable growth in the private sector.
• Current staffing growth across both the wider public sector and the Public Service specifically is far too high. At a bare minimum, public sector staffing growth should not exceed population growth, but should be cut back in areas where possible.
• The provision of frontline services is important, especially in the context of New Zealand’s cost-of-living crisis. This means cutting back on managerial appointments and ensuring that the employment and maintaining of health, education, and social workers should be prioritized.
• The Government should investigate why sick leave entitlement is being taken at a much higher rate in the public sector than in the private sector. If this analysis determines that public sector departments are providing extra sick leave unnecessarily, then arrangements should be made to ensure that this benefit reduced.

Commenting on the release of the 2023 Public Sector Wage Gap Report, Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves said:

“While the gap in average earnings between the public and private sector may have reduced significantly over the past several years, the Government is still spending more and more on its personnel thanks to the sheer growth in staff numbers across departments.

“Not only do more and more managers each now oversee fewer and fewer staff, but the number of frontline employees in social, health and education work hasn’t increased nearly as quickly. What should have been necessary investment into essential services over the last few years has instead been rampant bureaucracy through the back-office.

“Even the finance minister knows the current state of the public sector’s workforce is untenable. His last-ditch attempt to cut Public Service expenditure right before PREFU only highlighted the little faith he had in his own fiscal management.

“If the Government really wants to reduce the enormous deficit facing the country, it must look to optimize its payroll and hold people to account. It is clear that the current staffing arrangement is shockingly unsustainable."

Following today’s release of the Government’s audited Financial Statements revealing that fiscal drag has seen New Zealanders taxed an additional $1.2 billion by stealth, the Taxpayers’ Union is launching a new website and petition as part of a campaign to Axe the Inflation Tax.

Axe the Inflation Tax asks all political parties to commit to automatic annual inflation adjustments of tax brackets so that Kiwis struggling in the middle of a cost of living crisis aren’t pushed into paying higher and higher average tax rates when their income hasn’t increased in real terms.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“While a number of political parties are campaigning on adjusting tax brackets for inflation, none of them have committed to the Taxpayers’ Union’s robust proposal that would actually stop politicians’ from stealthily sticking their fingers into workers’ pay-checks for more and more tax every year. The key differences between our proposal and those of political parties is that we want inflation adjustments to income tax brackets to be both automatic and annual.

“Parties campaigning on discretionary adjustments simply give themselves an easy out to continue stealth tax hikes without the consent of Parliament. If the Minister of Finance feels that they need the additional revenue, they should be able to justify it to the public and parliament as they are currently forced to do with every other tax grab.

“Equally, three-yearly inflation adjustments are particularly punishing during high-inflation periods such as right now where many struggling families cannot withstand three years of tax hikes before being bribed with an adjustment disguised as tax relief. What’s worse is that, as we have seen with the failure to regularly adjust tax brackets since they were introduced in 2010, many parties claim that it would be simply too expensive to reset tax brackets to the same real level as when they were first set.

“Our inflation tax calculator shows the impact inflation has had on income taxes and how much less tax workers would be paying if regular inflation adjustments had been occurring. A worker on the median income of $66,196, for example, is paying $2,285 more in tax per year than someone on the same real income in 2010 despite politicians not legislating any changes to income tax rates in the lower and middle brackets during this time.”

Responding to news that Wellington City Council is planning to buy the land under the currently earthquake-prone Reading cinema complex and re-strengthen the building, Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns Callum Purves said:

“The Reading Cinema may be a dead spot in the heart of the City Centre, but that doesn’t mean the Council needs to step in.“Just earlier this week we saw with Wellington’s Town Hall just how costly these earthquake-strengthening projects turn out to be. It’s just as likely that another massive budget blowout is on the cards with this proposal.

“If Reading International won’t take on the restrengthening itself, then the Council needs to accept that. Should a private buyer choose to purchase and redevelop the land in the future, the Council should ensure that the consenting process – including the demolition option – is as smooth as possible, but that’s all it needs to do.

“This is just another example corporate favouritism at the expense of the ratepayer. Wellington residents are already facing a double-digit rate increase this year. A project of this magnitude will only guarantee further rate hikes and continue to burden Wellingtonians."

A new report by Taxpayers’ Union Research Fellow, Jim Rose,analysing the impacts of implementing a tax-free threshold concludes that the policy would be an expensive and poorly targeted way of reducing the tax burden and increasing after-tax incomes of New Zealand families.

Key findings of the report include:

> The introduction of a tax-free threshold is poorly targeted with many of the intended beneficiaries of the policy already receiving other Government support such as benefits, superannuation and tax credits, which could be increased without spillovers to other higher income groups.

> The more important tax threshold that needs to be adjusted is the $48,000 income tax threshold that when crossed sees individuals paying a 30% marginal tax rate. Given that a full-time minimum wage worker earns $47,216 annually, they only need to work one additional hour a week or get a 40 cent per hour pay rise in order to be pushed into the higher tax rate. This, combined with the 27% abatement of Working for Families tax credits, can create punishing effective tax rates well above 50%, which has significant impacts on incentives to work.

> Most of those in incomes low enough to substantially benefit from a tax-free threshold are either in groups where more targeted support can be provided (such as those listed above), are students working part time, or are second earners, again working part-time.

> The tax-free thresholds proposed by the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, along with the one considered earlier in the year by Labour, would cost more than what is currently spent on Working for Families but spills over to many taxpayers who do not need it, rather than just those the policy intends to help.

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

“While it might be seen as appealing at first, the introduction of a tax-free threshold is arguably one of the least effective tax cuts. It is poorly targeted and doesn’t address the real issue, which is high marginal tax rates for primary earners in a household. Marginal tax rates matter because the impact on incentives to work, invest and up-skill along with being key determinants for whether people come to New Zealand or if our best and brightest decide to head overseas for a better return for hard work.

“The Taxpayers’ Union would of course prefer a tax-free threshold be introduced to the current high-tax status quo if it was funded by reductions in wasteful spending. However, there are far more effective options which should be explored instead, such as reducing the tax burden at the point where it hits the hardest by increasing the income threshold at which the 30% tax bracket kicks in.

“Hiking taxes even further to fund a tax-free threshold is simply untenable. The taxes proposed by the Greens and Te Pāti Māori (and previously by Labour) would economically ruin New Zealand by punishing innovation, investment, and success, draining New Zealand of the income needed to sustainably fund such a threshold.” 

The Full Report can be read below or by clicking here:

Responding to news that the OCR has remained at 5.5%, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“Kiwis struggling under the cost-of-living crisis will be hurting today after hearing that the Official Cash Rate (OCR) is still frozen at 5.5%. Worse still, with inflation still well outside the target range, pundits such as ANZ are seriously questioning whether interest rates may have to jump again later in the year.
 
“The IMF have been clear that this Government’s lack of fiscal responsibility is the cause of our economic woes and have repeatedly called on the Government to rein in their flagrant overspending. With the Government continuing to drive inflation through billions of wasted dollars on bloated bureaucracies and vanity projects, RBNZ are having to desperately play catch-up by tightening the economy with high interest rates.
 
“This combination of high interest rates and high inflation is making life impossible for far too many people up and down the country, but with both major parties just promising more of the same unfortunately life is only going to get harder. Whatever happens after this month’s election, any incoming government must commit to cutting back on wasteful overspending and finally start to show some economic credibility.”

A new Taxpayers Union – Curia poll in the Tāmaki electorate shows ACT’s Brooke van Velden mounting a strong challenge to incumbent National MP, Simon O’Connor.

The two major candidates for the seat are locked in a statistical tie with 35% of respondents indicating they will vote for Simon O’Conner and 33% opting for Brooke van Velden. 12% said they would vote for Labour’s Fesaitu Solomone while others pledged their support for parties without local electorate candidates: 4% for the Greens, 2% for Te Pāti Māori, and 1% for NZ First. 1% refused to answer while 13% were unsure – much lower than in other electorates polled. 

Removing undecideds and refusals, gives a decided vote of 40% for Simon O’Connor – down 13 points on the last election – and 38% for Brooke van Velden – up 33 points on 2020. Labour is on 14%, the Greens on 4%, Te Pāti Māori on 2%, and NZ First on 1%. 

The full results – including candidate name recognition, MP approval rating, and most important local issues – are available here.

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said: 

 “Tāmaki has been a National stronghold for decades since former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon won the seat back at the 1960 general election, but it can no longer be considered a safe blue seat. Simon O’Connor outpolled the National party vote by 15 points in 2020, but today’s poll suggests there has been a massive turnaround. 

“O’Connor and Brooke van Velden are in a statistical tie for the electorate with a massive increase in support for the ACT Party. With the difference between the two top candidates being within the margin of error for this poll, either candidate could be ahead in this contest that is likely to go right down to the wire.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is surprised to be, yet again, in the mind of the Labour Party leader when fielding questions from journalists.

Responding to Mr Hipkins’ slight today accusing the Taxpayers’ Union of spreading “outlandish claims” about him and the Labour Party, the Taxpayers’ Union invites him to put up or shut up as it pertains to any factual errors in the Union’s advertising.

Taxpayers’ Union resident disinformation sniffer Jordan Williams, said:

“Unlike Labour’s affiliate organisations, we don’t make stuff up in critiquing parties’ policies. I am proud that unlike the CTU’s three-yearly smear campaigns, the Taxpayers’ Union leads with its mission, policy critiques, and facts.

“The PM’s comments today appear just to be meaningless political straw-clutching but if Mr Hipkins, or any of the hundreds of staff that work at the Beehive, can point to any factual errors in our recent or current campaigns we will happily apologise and correct them.

“Mr Hipkins would be better focused at selling his own party than continuing to take swipes at New Zealand’s most popular union.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is questioning the Government’s decision to provide corporate welfare to the wood processing sector, both in the form of direct hand-outs and the Government playing bank manager by providing loans when this could easily be left to private sector banks.

Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Too often we see the Government branching out into areas that are not core government functions and where Ministers and bureaucrats have little to no expertise. What does the Government know that banks don’t when it comes to making sensible investment decisions? This is simply more corporate welfare providing handouts to business at a time when Kiwis are struggling with the cost of living.

“Not only are these spending decisions distortionary by arbitrarily encouraging more investment in some sectors to the detriment of others but they also unnecessarily place private risk on taxpayers who are left out of pocket if things go wrong.

“If the Government is concerned about the lack of investment in growing industries, perhaps they should look at the root causes of the problem – high interest rates made necessary by out-of-control government spending and overly-restrictive overseas investment rules that make it so difficult to get foreign capital into the country.

“The only tree that the Government should be focused on is the self-proclaimed ‘Tāne Mahuta’, Adrian Orr, who has consistently failed to keep inflation in the target range and whose Large Scale Asset Purchase programme has seen taxpayers foot the bill for billions of dollars in losses." 

Despite facing consistent financial challenges and relying on taxpayer bailouts - most recently to the tune of $220 million in May's budget - The Waikato Times has revealed a staggering $15.6 million spent on ads, PR, and publications, which includes a $3.5 million campaign launch.

Oliver Bryan, Invesitgations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, commented, "Feedback on Te Pūkenga's performance from experts in the tertiary sector echoes the country's sentiment that this is clearly an organisation costing us a fortune and delivering little in return."

“The consistent mismanagement and questionable spending decisions by Te Pūkenga are alarming and unacceptable. It is deeply concerning to see millions being channeled into advertising campaigns while the very core of Te Pūkenga is riddled with operational deficiencies. The latest feedback from experts and surveys clearly indicates that their hefty advertising investment is not yielding the desired results in terms of student numbers or improved public perception."

"Until the organisation rectifies its operational issues, the Government is just pouring money into a failing system. It needs to stop."

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Cabinet's decision to provide yet another taxpayer-funded handout to Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL), this time to the tune of $7 million.

Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:

“We warned earlier in the year that taxpayer-funded bailouts for failing businesses would be a slippery slope and unfortunately we have been vindicated.

“Every dollar that the Government wastes on corporate handouts is a dollar that first had to be taxed from someone else. While the Government may claim that they are protecting jobs in the ski industry, the taxes to pay for this corporate welfare costs jobs in other industries.

“The Government would be better to let RAL go under and allow a new buyer to come in as a replacement – including leaving the door open for an international investor. This would allow a financially viable operator to take over the ski field while also saving taxpayers from funding unnecessary corporate welfare in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

“Once businesses realise that they can get money by coming cap in hand to the Government, the potential for pork-barrel politics and back-room deals is increased as businesses begin to respond to Ministers instead of markets.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on New Zealand First to release costings for each of their policies citing fears that they could cost more than Labour’s election spending spree.

When questioned by Jack Tame on TVNZ’s Q + A yesterday about the lack of fiscal detail in NZ First’s policies, Winston Peters said “Well our manifesto comes out later today. Why don’t you wait. We've made sure that were gonna have it out given the huge PREFU gaps and holes there are. We made sure ours stacks up.”

Despite early voting now being open, New Zealand voters are none the wiser as to how much NZ First’s policies will cost taxpayers and what new taxes will be levied to pay for them.

Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:

“New Zealand First has to date been the least transparent out of all the parties likely to get into Parliament in relation to how much their policies would cost taxpayers.

“In 2017, New Zealand First was campaigning on more spending than any other party and it appears this could be the case again this time around. Unfortunately, the lack of detail in the announced policies make it near impossible for us to independently cost the proposals.

“Included in the policy list is a number of eye-wateringly expensive proposals including $100 million on 'transmission upgrades', moving the Port of Auckland and establishing a naval base, establishing a new Ministry for Energy and a vague promise of corporate welfare in the form of tax incentives.

“This is on top of the policy to remove GST off ‘basic foods’ – a policy that will not only cost significantly more than the $2.6 billion needed for Labour’s GST proposal but will also require an even bigger army of bureaucrats to determine what is and isn’t basic foods.

“Winston Peters is trying to frame his party as one fit for Government yet to date we have had more clarity from Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori. Voters deserve answers now.”

Grant Robertson’s claim that there is a ‘hole’ in the funding as of a result of scraping Three Waters is nonsense on stilts.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, says:

“Grant Robertson is trying to frame opponents of Three Waters - including the National Party - as not having an alternative. Nonsense. There is an off the shelf solution that has the broad backing of the countries largest two councils, Communities4Local Democracy, the Taxpayers’ Union, and ACT. The National Party’s policy is nearly identical.

“Unlike Three Waters, the Local Water Infrastructure Bill, doesn’t just splash cash and bureaucracy.  No government funding is required within the budget forecast period, and any that subsequently is needed requires disciplined analysis showing investment is justified before amounts are committed - similar to the tests for investment Transpower is subject to.

“The only hole here seems to be Grant Robertson’s knowledge about the alternative to Labour expensive, bureaucratic, undemocratic Three Waters.”

As per the Q&A released on 11 August when the Taxpayers’ Union announced that it had earlier appointed an expert group to develop the Three Waters Repeal And Replacement Bill:

Cost for water utilities and for communities depends on how much investment is needed and how much has been delayed. That differs from council to council.

But the government has promoted unrealistic estimates of costs and promoted the idea that somehow essential upgrades and replacements can only be afforded if everything is centralised and overseas savers’ funds can be accessed to pay for our water services. Castalia says that the investment plans for water infrastructure of most of the sample of councils they have audited appear prudent and readily fundable. They found that the consultants engaged by DIA wildly overstated investment needs.

As Castalia explains it “the government has assumed that one factor, scale, will deliver fantastical cost savings. This is plain wrong and the international evidence confirms this. Because the government’s consultants could claim such big cost savings from scale, they were able to include enormous estimates of needed capital expenditure”.

Responding to the Labour Party’s announcement that they intend to subsidise grocery stores to try and enable competition in New Zealand’s grocery sector, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“There is a lack of competition in New Zealand’s grocery sector, and that does lead to extortionate food prices. But Labour seem to have missed that the reason for this is that the Government keeps propping up the big two supermarket chains.

“There is a massive contradiction in Labour’s story here. Given the enormous profits generated by the big two grocery chains, if there was an opportunity for foreign competition to establish themselves here than they would jump at the chance regardless of whether they received taxpayer-funded handouts. The fact that they haven’t just goes to show that, thanks to the Government interfering in the market, competing with Foodstuffs and Woolworths is not currently possible.

“Overly restrictive resource management under the RMA and restrictions on foreign investment make it nigh-on impossible for competitors to establish themselves in New Zealand. Coupled with Labour’s bizarre ruling that new grocery chains will have to supply their competition at wholesale prices should they be successful, this sends investors running. Just chucking more taxpayer dollars away in corporate welfare isn’t going make these problems go away, and so food prices will stay sky-high.

“Labour must at least be commended for their new-found transparency. Rather than just subsiding grocery store owners by stealth with their GST fiasco, at least with this new policy they’re being open with the public about their plans to line the pockets of grocery chain fat cats.”

Commenting on the National Party’s re-affirmation of their pledge to scrap the Clean Car Discount, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Under Labour’s Ute Tax, families, farmers and tradies have been subsidising the lifestyle choices of wealthy urban professionals. Robbing from hardworking people to the tune of half a billion dollars so that middle-class Kiwis can save a few bucks on a shiny new set of wheels is both immoral and unsustainable.

“National’s plan to scrap the Ute Tax by the end of the year will be a welcome Christmas present for Kiwis struggling under the cost-of-living crisis. However, rather than swapping one middle-class subsidy for another, National also need to commit to scrapping their plans to waste even more of the taxpayers’ money propping up the electric vehicle industry.

“Given Treasury’s recent update on the dire state of our nation’s finances, it is woefully irresponsible to commit to spending $257 million in taxpayers’ money on EV charging points. The market has been perfectly adequate at providing petrol pumps across the country without the need for the government to build, own, and operate them. If New Zealanders want to switch to electric vehicles, then the same will be true of charging points.

“Once again, when drafting this policy National seem to have completely missed the fact that this subsidy won’t reduce emissions by even a single gram. As net emissions are capped under the Emissions Trading Scheme, any reduction in car-related emissions will simply free up carbon credits to be used in other sectors.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the plan released by the National Party today saying it barely touches the sides in terms of cutting waste, and realigning the sector to live within the country’s means.  

Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Jordan Williams said:

“We expected the National Party to set operating allowances at least as small as what Sir Bill English achieved decade ago. Instead, the amounts are nearly four times larger, and somehow National says it is ‘prudent’.

“Grant Robertson has increased government spending by 70 percent. The National Party should be saving money, not simply saying ‘we’ll grow it a little slower’.

“National’s plan wont even get the books back into surplus any sooner than Labour. That means three-and-a-half more years of even more borrowing, and billions more taxpayer dollars wasted on servicing interest payments.

“This certainly snookers Labour though – it looks like those 16,000 extra bureaucrats’ jobs are safe under National. Frankly, that’s not good enough.

“Taxpayers want a Finance Minister to make the tough and necessary calls. While this plan ticks political boxes, it continues to kick the can down the road and is dangerous if and when New Zealand next faces an economic or natural disaster disruption.”

Download the spreadsheet containing our modelling of the cost of Labour's GST policy here.

Following recent concerns raised by the Taxpayers’ Union that Labour’s GST-exempt policy would leave a revenue hole of up to $411m because, as Labour have claimed, more people may eat fresh fruit and vegetables if they were cheaper, yesterday Chris Hipkins told media “We’ve already banked the savings that people make. So when people get their GST off their fruit and vegetables, we’ve assumed that 100% of the savings they get from that are going to be spent on more fruit and vegetables.

“If they spend that on something else then actually, our costings are overly conservative because they’ll pay GST on the other stuff. The Taxpayers’ Union beat-up is just fictional. It doesn’t make sense. They haven’t actually got their numbers right.”

To call the Prime Minister’s bluff, the Taxpayers’ Union is releasing the excel spreadsheet and is inviting journalists and analysts to come to their own conclusion on Hipkins’ version of ‘fiction’. The spreadsheet is available to download here.

“It’s certainly a big coincidence that Labour’s numbers match, almost exactly, our figures before we adjust them for behavioural changes. After this behavioural adjustment, Labour is left with a $411 million hole which they are yet to explain.

“Now that we’ve done so, Mr Hipkins and Robertson should release their spreadsheet showing how they came to the same number, but – as Hipkins claims – accounting for the substitution effect on demand for fresh fruit and vegetables from his GST-free policy.

“Either it’s an almighty coincidence, the Labour Party leader is being misled by his advisors, or Mr Hipkins is misleading voters. We are pretty confident it’s not the first one.

“It’s time for Mr Hipkins to put his money where his mouth is and release Labour's own costings.”

NOTES:

A downloadable copy of the spreadsheet can be accessed by clicking here.

The Taxpayers' Union is willing to sit down with any journalists, analysts or Labour MPs to explain how we came to our costings.

Further explanation of our analysis can be found in our earlier press release at: https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/gst_policy_hole

Responding to the release of the OECD’s latest Education at a Glance report, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“Since 2018, investment received by the Ministry of Education has increased by nearly 75%. Despite this, outcomes for our children are getting worse and worse by the year. Like with so many other departments across the public service, serious questions need to be asked about where this extra money has gone.
 
“Chucking billions upon billions more into the bureaucratic black hole clearly hasn’t been working, when this increasingly seems to be wasted on a growing culture of inefficiency across the public sector. With the Ministry of Education unable to tackle core problems like 40% of schoolkids still failing to regularly attend school, it’s no wonder Kiwi kids are being left behind.”
 
“Any incoming government needs to take a long, hard look at how taxpayers’ money is being spent, zero-base funding and do much more than just pay lip service to getting essential services like education working again.”

Commenting on the Grocery Supply Code of Conduct coming into force, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“The grocery supply code of conduct has completely missed the root causes of New Zealand’s sky-high grocery prices. Lack of competition in the sector is absolutely the main driving factor behind this, but rather than bringing prices down this code will only make things worse.

“The Government props up food prices by refusing to allow competition to spring up, through both its overly restrictive planning regulation and making it nigh-on impossible to attract competition from overseas. A law which requires any competitors which spring up to supply their competition with produce at wholesale prices is of course going to send foreign investors running.

“Rather than answering every problem with soundbite policies promising more bureaucracy, if the Government really wants to help Kiwis struggling under the cost-of-living crisis then it needs to cut the red tape and allow proper competition to the grocery duopoly.”

Responding to the Labour Party’s Fiscal Plan, Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:

“Labour’s current economic plan of overtaxing hard-working New Zealanders just to waste money on middle-managers, consultants and vanity projects clearly isn’t working. With the highest level of Government spending we have ever had, Labour is robbing our children by racking up billions upon billions more in debt every year.

“In its latest fiscal plan, Labour has doubled down on its high tax, high borrowing, and high spending model. When Treasury noted only two weeks ago that a razor-thin increase in borrowing would see New Zealand unable to return to surplus within the forecast period, for Labour not to announce significant cuts to Government waste is deeply irresponsible.

“When asked how Labour planned to deal with any large unexpected costs, as expected Robertson’s reply was “through the balance sheet.” In other words, Labour is already planning to borrow more to make ends meet. With every household’s share of this debt now at nearly $82,000 and rising fast, New Zealand can’t afford more of the same.

“Wasting billions on a GST policy that economists almost universally call inefficient and ineffective is bull-headed to the extreme. New Zealanders deserve sound, properly-costed policies and unfortunately that is not what they’re getting with this GST fiasco. The Taxpayers’ Union is once again calling to establish an independent electoral policy costing body so Kiwis can make informed choices at the ballot box.”

Chris Hipkins’ claim this morning that Labour’s costings for removal of GST off fruit and veg account for behavioural changes is completely untrue.

Responding to Mr Hipkins’ attacks on the Union, spokesman Jordan Williams said:

“We couldn’t care less what Mr Hipkins thinks about the country’s largest union, but to accuse us of getting it wrong when he fails to understand his own numbers stinks of desperation. The public deserve better.

“The Taxpayers’ Union last week highlighted that Labour’s costings for its flagship GST policy failed to account for any behavioural changes – the very same criticism Labour has made about National’s forecast Foreign Buyers Tax.

“If Labour is so confident that their modelling accounts for behavioural changes, the party needs to show us in its numbers because as it stands, we have managed to almost perfectly replicate Labour’s costings by calculating the cost of the policy without accounting for behavioural change. Mr Hipkins is either misleading the public or needs to release the spreadsheet.

“The point we made was that if the removal of GST is actually passed through to consumers, this will reduce the cost of fresh fruit and veg causing people to substitute their consumption away from GST-applicable products towards zero-rated fruit and veg as supported by academic research. This shift would significantly reduce the Government’s GST take.

“Of course Labour hates that we’ve pointed out the gaping fiscal hole in Grant Robertson’s fiscal plan. We’d much rather explanation or correction, than name calling.”

A new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll in the Auckland Central Electorate has voters undecided between Greens incumbent Chlöe Swarbrick (polling at 26% of voters) and National candidate Mahesh Muralidhar (polling at 24%) - a statistical tie when accounting for the margin of error. Labour’s candidate, Oscar Sims is struggling to reclaim Labour’s electorate vote from 2020, polling at 12% of voters. 

Among minor parties, NZ First is attracting 3% of the electorate vote, despite their candidate pulling out of the race, while ACT’s candidate, Felix Poole, is currently polling at 1% of the vote. However, 29% of the electorate is yet to make up their mind about which candidate they support, leaving plenty of room for the front runners to take a lead in this pivotal electorate. 

The poll of 500 respondents was conducted on Sunday, 24 September 2023. The full results, including the most important local issues for voters, are available here. 

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says: 

“This poll shows a dead heat between the incumbent, high-flying Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick, and the resurgent National candidate, Mahesh Muralidhar, to represent this centre-city electorate. This is a notable change from 2020, when Auckland Central hosted a three-cornered contest after Nikki Kaye’s retirement – Labour’s support in the electorate has almost halved since 2020, leaving it in a distant third place this electoral cycle. With 29% of the electorate undecided about their electorate vote, time will tell if Chlöe Swarbrick will repeat history, or Mahesh Muralidhar will take back the electorate that National lost in 2020. 

“A damning statistic from this poll is that voters are assured that the country is heading in the wrong direction, with nearly two-thirds of the electorate unsatisfied with how the country is dealing with the nation’s problems. This may be reflective of local issues identified by those surveyed – law and order is at front of mind for nearly a third of voters, followed by public and transport at 10% and 9% respectively. Candidates will need to show how committed they are to these issues if they are to swing informed voters in this highly competitive electorate.”

Responding to Labour’s promise to hand control over carbon pricing under the Emissions Trading Scheme to the Climate Change Commission, Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Handing control of carbon pricing away to faceless Wellington bureaucrats would strip away any democratic accountability over climate policy. A bloated, unaccountable crown entity should not have the power to effectively dictate prices for basic goods up and down the country on a whim.

"We would not accept the Ministry for Primary Industries dictating the milk price or the Minister for Transport setting the price of ubers, taxpayers should not be forced to face Muldoon-style interventions in a market that would function perfectly fine without heavy-handed government involvement.

"If anything, the problems with the current Emissions Trading Scheme arise from too much government involvement rather than not enough. Arbitrary minimum and maximum prices distort the market and decision making and prevent it from functioning effectively. With three failed carbon auctions this year alone, it should be clear to this Government that their meddling in the market is causing the system to fail. Rather than doubling down on failed policy, the Government must leave the ETS to work as intended.”

Responding to National’s proposed changes to the Job-Seeker benefit scheme, Taxpayers’ Union National Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The current job-seeker benefit arrangements incentivise freeriding and provide little accountability for non-compliance. Taxpayers deserve to know that their money is only going towards helping people who actually intend to get back into work.

“While Kiwis actively seeking work should have the funding assurance to tide them over during periods of unemployment, it is vital that those who breach the obligations of their benefit face consequences.

“National’s proposals are a step in the right direction. Clearly the first attempt to resolve breaches should be non-financial, but ultimately, those who repeatedly breach the requirements of their taxpayer-funded benefit should be sanctioned financially.”

Responding to the release of Labour’s Climate Manifesto, Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

"Yet again, we are seeing a swathe of policies that fail to recognise the genius and effectiveness of our existing Emissions Trading Scheme. If we want to become world leaders in the climate change space, we must demonstrate to other countries how we can reduce net emissions in a low-cost way that doesn't allow Ministers to pick and choose winners. 

Establishing a Minister of Just Transitions:

“This sounds like nothing more than a push for more bureaucracy and Ministerial intervention in how our emissions are reduced. The Emissions Trading Scheme is already capped and set to reduce over time. Ministers picking and choosing winners does not reduce the country’s net emissions, it simply frees up carbon credits to be used elsewhere in the economy.

“Given that Labour has refused to clarify what role the minister would have compared to the existing Climate Change minister, we can only assume that the role only exists to expand the Government Cabinet and create another source of wasteful spending. New Zealand doesn’t need more high-level bureaucrats to make climate change decisions, it needs policy that allows us to meet our climate targets at the lowest possible cost – a robust Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

More Corporate Welfare:

“Feel-good policies that won’t make one iota of difference to net carbon emissions are simply corporate welfare dressed up as climate action. Initiatives such as NZ Green Investment Finance and the GIDI fund do not reduce New Zealand’s net emissions. As we have repeatedly said, because net emissions are capped, if one of these initiatives manages to reduce emissions in a particular sector, that frees up those carbon credits to be used elsewhere and net emissions remain unchanged. The only way to reduce net emissions is by lowering the cap on the ETS to reduce the number of carbon credits available for sale.

“Furthermore, NZ Green Investment Finance is gambling with taxpayers’ money. Private investors carefully assess the viability of a project before stumping up the cash, what can NZGIF bring to the table except risking other people’s money on projects which are unlikely to be profitable – if they are profitable, they can be funded privately and the government does not need to duplicate the role of the private market in a way that is less efficient.

Removing Diesel Generators from all Schools:

“The cost of running a diesel generator already includes the cost of those emissions under the emissions trading scheme. Again, any reduction in emissions here will simply free up carbon credits to be used elsewhere and will not reduce net emissions.

“Schools should be free to judge for themselves whether, in light of the rising price of running diesel generators, it will be a prudent financial decision to phase out generators in favour of other forms of electricity generation. For some schools this will likely make sense, for others the benefit of reliability of diesel generators will be favoured.

Prioritising Gross Emissions Reductions over Net Emissions Reductions:

“This is ideologically driven madness. There is no difference as far as the climate is concerns as to whether emissions are reduced or offset through carbon sequestration. The role of the Government is to ensure a well functioning Emissions Trading Scheme that allows net emissions reductions at the lowest possible economic cost.

There is a better way:

“The Taxpayers’ Union has long supported a capped emissions trading scheme that, once in place, allows the market to respond to price signals so that net emissions can be reduced over time. The current system can be improved in a number of ways to mitigate the impact on consumers.

“Introducing a universal carbon dividend would distribute funds generated through the ETS back to consumers which will shield them from rising prices while still maintaining the incentives to consumer lower-carbon products which remain relatively cheaper.

“Allowing offshore offsets can help ensure that carbon offsets are done as cost-effectively as possible in the places where it makes the most economic sense to do so. This helps to avoid proliferation of forestry on productive land in New Zealand without arbitrary restrictions and also will prevent the carbon price from rising too high.

“As it stands, many politicians, climate activists and political commentators highlight the fact that the Government will have to offset some of New Zealand’s emissions through the purchase of carbon credits. We think those same international suppliers should be able to sell to New Zealand companies to mitigate their emissions so that more of the cost is borne by polluters rather than taxpayers.

“Agriculture should be incorporated into the ETS with a free industrial allocation of credits similar to other trade-exposed producers such as the steel and aluminium sectors. This free allocation should be reduced relative to how efficient overseas producers are – the purpose here is to prevent carbon leakage, if overseas farmers become more efficient than New Zealand producers the industrial allocation should be removed entirely."

Responding to National’s plans to reverse Labour’s blanket speed reductions, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“The real cost of reducing speed limits is far more than just changing some signs, and it is not a policy which comes cheap. Trucks, buses and cars rely on being able to get from A to B as quickly as possible to keep the country ticking over. Longer travel times for transport and freight lowers productivity, which in turn means less growth, higher prices and lower wages.
 
“Where there is clear evidence that reducing speed limits on a specific section of road will have a significant effect on road safety, then this option should of course be considered. However, hobbling the economy with blanket reductions is a decision which has been taken far too lightly.
 
“At a time when improving our productivity is more important then ever, we should be looking for ways to safely allow people to travel faster, not slow them down. A return to evidence-based highways policy which makes full use of proper economic assessments will be a welcome change for Kiwis struggling under the cost-of-living crisis.”

It's foot to the floor here at the Taxpayers' Union – even Porky the Waste-hater student interns are working overtime this weekend.

As well as the the campaigns detailed below, we're still business-as-usual exposing government waste. This week, we take a look at the world through the eyes of those poor bureaucrats at Creative NZ. The staff have received a formal health and safety apology because [I'm not making this up] staff suffered flight delays due to the flooding in Auckland back in January! The formal apology related to some souls not being given money to get into the Koru lounge which, apparently, resulted in 'emotional trauma'. (yes, seriously – details below).

But first, we tackle the big numbers.

New Zealand's Debt Crisis: We need to 'Stop the Clock!' 🛑⏰

Thanks to those who came along to Parliament and bought a sausage as part of our fundraiser to help Grant Robertson pay back the debt! 

Here's a video on the event and just how bad the debt now is.

Great to see 1News pick up on the concept in the 6pm bulletin, and Newshub run my interview with Christopher Luxon earlier in the day (skip forward in the Newshub video here or watch our captioned version over on our Facebook page here).

David Seymour also popped down to grab a sausage and helped reset the clock after the disturbingly high new debt figures were released in Treasury's Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update.

Sadly, we didn't hit our target of selling 80 billion sausages @ $2 each to pay back the debt. We worked it out though, that it's enough snags end to end to get to the moon and back 14 times!

In the 12 days since launching the Debt Clock, New Zealand’s Government Debt has grown by more than $865 million. And the online version of the Debt Clock continues to spin. Right now, government debt sits at more than $161 billion – that's basically a $81,633 (and growing) credit card bill for every NZ household.

In the coming weeks we'll be putting in the miles to make sure the Debt Clock gets in front of as many eyes as possible. We need to ensure the politicians are forced to grapple with the cost of government crisis. 

The Debt Clock will be outside TVNZ for tomorrow morning's Q&A debate, at our Auckland Central electorate debate on Tuesday, and The Press Leader's Debate in Christchurch on October 3.

Grant Robertson's deficit now the second largest in the world 🧨

Some government apologists try to pretend these debt numbers aren't that bad. But despite COVID having passed, Grant Robertson's $72 million per day borrowing is, according to the International Monetary Fund, the second highest cyclically-adjusted fiscal deficit in the OECD.

Click for larger image

Hear that, kids? Tick tock, tick tock...

Labour's GST claims are cabbage: If Hipkins' claims about us eating more fruit and vege are right, there’s a $411m hole in Labour's GST costings 🕳️🥬

As the NZ Herald reported yesterday, a certain "Low Tax Lobby Group" (their words) has found a fiscal hole in Labour's GST-free fruit & vege policy costings

Despite Labour's policy document stating that taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables “will have the additional benefit of encouraging Kiwis to purchase more healthy fruit and vegetables in their weekly shop”, the Party's costings assume not one more fresh or frozen carrot or blueberry is consumed!

You will recall Labour has been jumping up and down about National apparently not factoring in enough demand change in relation to its budgeted revenue from Nicola Willis's proposed foreign buyer's tax. But that is more of a debate of whether it was factored in enough – here Labour has ignored dynamic effects entirely.

Labour's GST policy has already been roundly rejected by economists and pundits across the political spectrum. But now we know that GST-free cabbages can't count either.

Using economic modelling based on what happens when food is subsidised, we can estimate that Labour has a budget hole of around $411 million if the GST reduction is passed on in full (as suggested by Labour’s election advertisements).

But if only 30 per cent of the GST reduction is passed onto consumers (as the Tax Working Group’s expert advice suggests – advice uncovered by your humble Taxpayers' Union last week), there is still a $123 million gap in Labour’s costings.

Labour is effectively saying its plan to destroy the best GST system in the world will not result in Kiwis eating one more carrot. Either Labour’s got a big hole in its costings, or the Party know its key sales pitch (that it's good for shoppers) is fresh baloney.

We say that dodgy costings like these show yet again why an independent costings unit to audit the spending promises that political parties put forward during elections is a no brainer. On that subject, I joined Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive recently to argue for just this type of office.

On Labour's costing hole, you can read the coverage over on the NZ Herald here, or our full explanation in the media release here.

Tackling co-governance in fiery post-1News Leaders' Debate panel 🗣️🔥

Tuesday brought with it the first head-to-head Hipkins v Luxon leaders' debate. Neither landed a knock-out blow or dropped a major clanger. The real fiery exchange came in our post-debate analysis show where Simon Wilson, Fran O'Sullivan, and I locked horns on co-governance.

Host of The Working Group podcast Martyn Bradbury moderated the, errr, spirited discussion with Fran O'Sullivan and Simon Wilson from the NZ Herald, Dr Bryce Edwards of Victoria University, Stuff columnist (and big Taxpayers' Union supporter) Damien Grant, and yours truly.

Unlike some mainstream media outlets (we are looking at you TVNZ!), at the Taxpayers' Union, we believe in giving a platform to people with a diverse range of views if we are going to have a worthwhile debate – even to people we strongly disagree with. The fiery discussion on co-governance is particularly worth a watch. 

On Tuesday, we host our next electorate debate in the Auckland Central. We'll also be releasing our exclusive Taxpayers' Union – Curia Auckland Central poll. Will Chlöe Swarbrick be on track to hold the seat?

If you're in Auckland, make sure you get your hands on one of the last of tickets still available.

Hipkins wants to hike fuel taxes 🤯⛽️

Great to see the Stop Higher Fuel Taxes campaign is getting cut through. Thank you for those who have bought "Wants to hike fuel taxes" signs – please keep those photos coming! We still have a few dozen in the office, so to get yours head over to our store (you only need to pay the postage).

Cry Me a River: Stranded Creative NZ staff "betrayed" by lack of airline lounge access 😢✈️

In one of those stories that makes you double check the date is not 1st April, we noticed a Stuff story this week that Creative NZ had commissioned an independent reviewer to investigate apparent mistreatment of staff who were stranded at Auckland Airport during the flooding back in January.

Here's my email to Creative NZ's media team which speaks for itself (click here for larger version):

Initially they would not reply, but after following up yesterday we got the answer: it was a staff hui.

Grant's mismanagement sees ACT pull back tax relief promise 🟡💸

While no one wants to see tax relief more than the Taxpayers' Union, it is important to recognise that spending needs to come down dramatically first. The only true tax cut is a spending cut – the rest is just timing. Any tax relief or spending promises that don't come with matching spending reductions, simply means more borrowing today (and more taxes tomorrow). 

On Thursday, the ACT Party released its amended Alternative Budget factoring in the updated Government's books. The party has watered down its previous tax reform package. Kiwis will still be at least a few hundred bucks a year better off under this new plan, but it keeps (at least in the short term) the 33% tax rate.

Grant Robertson's economic mismanagement got us into this mess with public spending increasing by 68 percent in just six years, resulting in the second largest budget deficits in the developed world (see above). ACT says that damage can't be fixed overnight and wants to prioritise getting the books back in order.

The 'alternative budget' has some other measures that we quite like the look of, including:

• Introducing a carbon dividend from Emissions Trading Scheme revenue
• Abolishing the bright-line test in its entirety 
• Reintroducing interest deductibility for residential landlords
• Scrapping corporate welfare and Government picking winners 
• Means testing or targeting more welfare spending
• Abolishing ministries based on demographics  
• Introducing sharing with councils for construction GST revenue 

Taxpayer Talk: Phil Barry On The Real Cost Of The Coming Crackdown On Smokers 🎙️🎧

A radical set of new anti-smoking measures is set to bring New Zealand close to a de facto prohibition on smoking. But with the black market rearing its head, what is the real cost of this crackdown for taxpayers, businesses and the economy? Ironically, our health's finances rely on those few who still smoke. For a decade smoking taxes have paid more than four times over the health costs of lighting up.

A major new analysis of Ayesha Verrall's Smoked Tobacco Amendment outlines $1.3 billion in new costs, and argues the legislation is "largely, if not entirely, redundant".

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union outgoing spokesman for lifestyle economics Louis Houlbrooke is joined by Phil Barry, a director of TDB Advisory who worked with Infometrics to produce the new report.

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

You can also read the full TDB analysis of the Smoked Tobacco Amendment here.

One more thing... 😕

Next week we will be finalising our ad-spend and campaign budget through to voting next month. I'll admit we've been so busy campaigning, we are well below budget to book the advertising and events we had originally planned for the coming weeks. This work is fuelled by New Zealanders like you who back our work for Lower Taxes, Less Waste, and More Accountability. To join up as a member click here, or to make a secure and confidential donation, click here.

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Stuff Newsable: Warriors fight on, political week wrap, animal dreams, Fun Fact Friday (08:20)

RNZ New TPU-Curia poll: National, ACT remain in position to form government

The Platform Free Speech Fridays #43 - Jonathan Ayling & Maurice Williamson

NZ Herald Election 2023: Labour polls at 27pc in Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll for September

RNZ The Pre-Panel with Catherine Robertson and Steve McCabe (01:30)

Newstalk ZB Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB Senior Political Correspondent on another poll putting Labour below 30 percent

The Post Hipkins puts on a brave face in 'heartland' Ōhāriu

Newstalk ZB Afternoon Edition: 08 September 2023 – September Poll

NZ Herald Election 2023: Claire Trevett – NZ First rodeo, National-Luxon attack ads, Labour poll strain kicks in

The Post Extra spending doesn't always mean wasteful spending

Newshub Newshub Nation Battlegrounds: Labour MP scolds The Opportunities Party leader Raf Manji for splitting the vote in Ilam, Christchurch

interest.co.nz Most new polls show National would need support from both the Act and New Zealand First parties to form a majority government

RNZ Advocacy angst as campaign begins

Newstalk ZB Mike's Minute: This weekend opened a gap in the election race

NZ Herald On the Campaign: 'Trainwreck' interviews and packed policy announcements (11:10)

Northern Advocate Far North news in brief: Community grants; meet the candidates and Awanui crash

Newstalk ZB Live: Luxon gatecrashed while waving signs, Labour plummets in poll

RNZ Election 2023 updates for 12 September: Hipkins 'pretty pleased' with PREFU, National says it shows 'more pain to come'

NZ Herald Election 2023: Audrey Young - even an economic miracle can’t save Labour now

Newshub Election 2023: Taxpayers' Union says National 'bit ratty' about gatecrashed human hoarding event

Newstalk ZB Midday Edition: 12 September 2023 – Debt Clock

Newstalk ZB Election Fix: 12 September 2023 – Debt Clock (04:50)

NZ Herald On The Campaign: What does the PREFU mean for our politicians and the economy? (11:07)

RNZ Party leaders ride the highs and lows of new poll

1News Election 2023: Politicians react to economy revelations (05:31)

BusinessDesk Poll gives Jones little chance of winning Northland seat

RNZ Northland electorate poll predicts clear defeat for Labour's Willow-Jean Prime

The Daily Blog Taxpayers’ Union Northland Electorate debate hosted by The Working Group

RNZ Election 2023: Photos from the campaign trail, Tuesday 12 September

Newsroom Once safe blue seat of Ilam now more politically fluid

Politik To cut or not to cut

RNZ National not impressed by PREFU (05:49)

Northern Advocate Election 2023: Northland electorate looks like heading back to National — poll

RNZ Raucous Northland debate crowd rails at Covid, te reo Māori mentions

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Can National afford their promised tax cuts?

NZ Herald Election 2023: Voters think National-Act-NZ First is a ‘coalition of chaos’ - poll

NZ Herald On The Campaign: The criticism grows for National's tax plan - will it matter to voters? (14:20)

The Crux Finance spokespeople face off in fun, sometimes fiery, Queenstown debate

NZ Herald Matthew Hooton: Tax cuts? It's spending cuts we need

Politik Willis under pressure in Queenstown

The Daily Blog Northland Debate: Winners and Losers

Newsroom When four politicians walk into a room

Newstalk ZB Morning Edition: 16 September 2023 – Willis Resignation Commitment (00:52)

Newsroom Electorates to Watch: the Battle for Northland

DemocracyProject Bryce Edwards: A Very hollow election

The Spinoff Angry Fence Man is in the house (or outside of it, anyway)

The Daily Blog The Working Group/Taxpayers’ Union Post Leaders Debate analysis live from Backbenchers Pub

The Spinoff Megapod 1: The first TVNZ leaders debate assessed (09:30)

RNZ Red wave may be breaking in battle for Ilam

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Should Chris Luxon confirm a collaboration with Winston Peters- or wait til after the election?

The Listener Danyl McLauchlan: A week of prospects, protests and possibilities

NBR Still no sign of National's fiscal plan and detailed costings

Kiwiblog Official government advice was that only 30% of a GST exemption is passed on.

NZ Herald Election 2023: More fiscal holes as Labour faces questions about GST policy

A new report published by the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union analysing the impacts of taking GST off fresh fruit and vegetables concludes that the policy would be expensive, complicated, poorly targeted and would see most of the benefits going to supermarkets rather than consumers. 

Using a collection of the leading research on GST and VAT systems from around the world, the report concludes:

> Evidence of significant litigation internationally over the categorisation of certain food products demonstrates the significant cost and bureaucratic complexity of determining whether different items should be zero-rated or not.  

> The inherent complexity of a GST system with a zero-rating regime adds significant compliance costs to small and medium sized businesses who currently enjoy the benefits of a system that is simple to calculate and administer. 

> Taking GST off fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables will not see a 100% pass through to consumers and is likely to be substantially less than this. Any pass-through of less than 100% therefore leads to wasted money which would be more effectively spent on other social policy tools such as an increase in Working for Families payments.

> The lack of competition in the New Zealand grocery sector means that consumers are even less likely than their international counterparts to see the GST reduction result in lower prices at the checkout. 

> Removing GST off food items is a poorly targeted way of reducing the cost of living for those most in need with most of the benefit going to those on higher incomes.

> Undermining the GST system for fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables is likely to lead to a slippery slope where lobbyists push for more exemptions to be made to other products such as other basic foods, sanitary products and children’s nappies which would further erode the efficiency and simplicity of the current system. 

In response to the report, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“A flat-rate GST system with few exemptions is one of the few things economists have been able to almost universally agree on as being good policy. It is a shame that certain politicians and political parties are willing to go against the overwhelming consensus for a policy that supposedly focus groups well.   

“The Finance Minister’s own comments in relation to GST before the policy was announced shows that he knows creating GST exemptions is a bad idea, a sentiment which was also shared in earlier comments from former Revenue Minister David Parker and former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The Labour Party strategy seems to be one of simply hoping that New Zealanders are too silly to see this policy for what it is.

“If the Government wants to bring down grocery prices for struggling New Zealanders, they should focus on removing overseas investment barriers for supermarkets, particularly those relating to the purchase of land, and also cutting the red tape in our resource management system that make it so costly and complex for any major developments to occur.”

Responding to news that the Ministry for the Environment intends to cut back hundreds of jobs, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“Since 2017, Government spending has increased by nearly 70%. Expenditure at the Ministry for the Environment alone was forecast to be 361% larger in 2023 than in 2017. Cash-strapped New Zealanders should be rejoicing at even the tiniest whiff of financial responsibility from this Government, but it shouldn’t take the threat of losing an election for Labour to pull their finger out and start cutting back waste.
 
“Robertson has committed to finding $4 Billion in savings in four years. That might sound like a lot, but it’s less than 1% of Government expenditure and not even 5% of the increase in spending since Labour took office. It is a start, but when it comes to reining in waste the Government has barely made it off the starting block.”

A new Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll found that New Zealanders preferred Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis (46% of respondents) to Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson (37%) as the most trusted team to deal with the cost of living crisis. 17% of respondents were unsure.

This month’s regular Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll showed that the cost of living was the most important issue to voters ahead of the election on 36% followed by the economy more generally on 14%.
 
Taxpayers’ Union Head of Campaigns, Callum Purves, said:
 
“People across New Zealand are doing it tough as a result of the cost of living crisis and this poll suggests that they want to see a new team take responsibility for tackling it.

“Rampant inflation – fuelled, in part, by the Government’s wasteful spending – has meant Kiwis’ dollars can buy less and less at the supermarket while the Government continues to take a higher share of their wages in tax as a result of bracket creep.

“Canny New Zealanders clearly aren’t swayed by Labour’s lollies such as GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and free dental care, but National needs to go further on its current pledges to cut back wasteful spending and commit to ongoing annual tax bracket indexation or the cost of living crisis won’t be over for a long time to come.”

Commenting on the updates to ACT’s alternative budget, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“The only true tax cut is a spending cut, and we welcome ACT’s commitment to tackling the damage caused by 6 years of Labour’s dangerous overspending. Public Spending has increased by nearly 70% in just 6 short years, leaving New Zealand with one of the worst budget deficits in the developed world. That damage won’t be fixed overnight.
 
“Whilst no-one wants to see tax cuts more than the Taxpayers’ Union, it is important to recognise that spending needs to come down dramatically first. It was Labour’s economic mismanagement that got us into this mess, and we commend anyone that puts responsible management of our nation’s finances ahead of poorly costed headline-grabbing policies.
 
“ACT’s switch to a three-tier income tax system is still a step in the right direction. However, cash-strapped Kiwis need to see a commitment that ACT will flatten the tax system when public finances allow. And if nothing else, the inflation-driven tax hikes by the back door faced by working people up and down the country must be brought to an end by indexing tax brackets to inflation.
 
“The move towards incentivising housing development through GST-sharing with councils is a much-needed step to drive growth, and ACT should be commended for taking real action to tackle the housing crisis. Kiwis will also be at minimum a few hundred bucks a year better off under this alternative plan. That is nothing to be sniffed at, but cash-strapped Kiwis need to see more.”

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that it appears the Labour Party has failed to account for behavioural change in its flagship election GST policy. Despite the policy document stating that it “will have the additional benefit of encouraging Kiwis to purchase more healthy fruit and vegetables in their weekly shop”, the Party does not seem to have factored this into its costings.
 
By using data from the 2019 Household Economic Survey and excluding canned dried fruit and vegetables, we can estimate that the share of current GST revenue that is levied on fruit and vegetables is 1.55%. Applying this to the BEFU GST revenue figures, allows us to almost perfectly match the figures in Labour’s costings:

 
Note that in the HES, fruit and vegetables are combined into canned, bottled and frozen. The above calculations assume that half of this category is frozen.
 
When a good becomes cheaper relative to another similar good, there is a substitution effect where consumers shift towards consuming the cheaper alternative. By removing GST from non-processed fruit and vegetables, it is likely that there will be some shift towards these products from processed alternatives. The shift away from processed fruit and vegetables will mean less GST is raised on these products and this should be taken into account in any costings.
 
Applying figures from a modelling study on effect of food taxes and subsidies on population health and health costs in New Zealand from 2019 by Blakley et al. would suggest a percentage change of around 17% and a resultant gap in the costings of $411 million if the GST reduction is passed on in full as suggested by some Labour candidates’ election advertisements. Even if only 30 per cent of the GST reduction is passed on as the Tax Working Group’s report on the issue suggests, there would still be a $123 million gap in Labour’s costings.
 
Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:
 
“Labour’s policy of removing GST from non-processed fruit and vegetables has already been lambasted by economists and people across the political spectrum, but it seems that their proposals were even less well thought through than it first seemed. Despite boasting that the policy will encourage Kiwis to shift their eating habits towards more non-processed fruit and vegetables, even Labour’s own modelling leaves it out for the purpose of the costings.
 
“Labour is effectively saying its plan to destroy the best GST system in the world will not result in Kiwis eating one more carrot.”
 
“Either Labour’s got a big hole in its costings, or they know their key sales pitch is fresh baloney.”
 
“If some of their candidates’ rather unrealistic claim that supermarkets will pass on GST reduction in full, our estimates suggest that Labour would have a hole in their budget of over $400 million. Even using the Tax Working Group’s more conservative pass through estimates, we still see a gap of over $120 million that remains unaccounted for. Voters are already seeing through this cynical policy and this latest blunder would suggest that even its main champions haven’t even properly thought it through.
 
“Misleading costings like these show why an independent costings unit to audit the spending promises that political parties put forward is a no brainer.”

Responding to National’s four step plan to boost international enrolments across Tertiary Education Institutions, Taxpayers' Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy said:

“At a time when universities all over the country are reporting crushing deficits and announcing hundreds of redundancies, it is paramount that New Zealand remains an attractive prospect for foreign pupils to boost revenue and stimulate our education sector.

“Despite the pandemic period strongly contributing to a sharp drop in international enrolments, the pick-up since then hasn’t nearly been strong enough. National’s plan will at least make it easier and more affordable for oversees students to study in New Zealand.

“While fast-tracking visas and extending working time allowances is a good start, more needs to to be done across the rest of the economy to strip back regulation, entice investment, and optimise productivity.”

Responding to the latest update to New Zealand’s GDP figures, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“As New Zealand struggles under the cost-of-living crisis, the Government must focus on increasing productivity in order to grow the economy. The markets are still gloomy about our prospects over the next 18 months, and so cutting red-tape, reining in government spending and responsibly pruning the tax burden back are needed to attract investment and kick our country into gear.”
 
"Unsurprisingly, between the fall in prices at the farm gate and crippling red tape, primary industries have taken a big hit. High interest rates fuelled by this Government’s addiction to spending are putting even more pressure on farmers who have to worry about servicing debt rather than improving productivity.
 
“Warning after warning from the likes of the IMF keep falling on deaf ears in the Beehive as this Government chokes the country with its reckless overspending. With people getting poorer by the day, is it really any wonder that the hundreds of thousands of the skilled Kiwis we need to grow the economy have been forced to move overseas?”

Responding to news that the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Primary Industries are proposing limits on sugar, salt and portion size for food and drinks, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:
 
“The Government is not your parent, and it has no right to tell you what you can and cannot eat. This latest example in a long string of government overreach is nothing more than puritanism disguised as health policy.
 
“First, hardworking Kiwis have been taxed out of being able to afford a few well-earned pints on a Friday night, and now under these plans you won’t even be able to grab yourself a proper glass of lemonade.
 
“It’s high time we put New Zealand’s nanny state back on the naughty step and trusted responsible adults to control their own private lives again.”

Responding to Mayor Brown’s Auckland Manifesto, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said:

“Wayne Brown is on the right track calling for devolution of powers from central government to local communities, but we need to go further. New Zealand is one of the most centralised nations in the OECD, and the result is that local interests are run over roughshod by Wellington bureaucrats.

“Handing revenue-raising powers to local bodies has the potential to facilitate tax competition between local areas, ensuring that ratepayers get the most bang for their buck. However, given that Auckland Council covers a third of all Kiwis, for this to happen there is a clear need to go further and devolve powers to smaller local councils.

“Control over local assets such as roads would eliminate perverse situations such as Auckland Council being forced to pay $171 million over three years just to get access to the National Land Transport Fund, let alone the vast sums wasted in litigation battles just to lay some tarmac.

“Furthermore, GST sharing with local bodies would give councils an incentive to manage their areas profitably. With estimates of $60-70 Billion required to maintain existing infrastructure in Auckland alone, this would go a long way towards lighting a fire under stagnant Councils.”

The Taxpayers' Union has once again highlighted the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) for its overseas excursions. The New Zealand Space Agency embarked on another trip to the USA, racking up a bill of $36,075.62. An Official Information Request has unveiled that the NZ Space Agency covered the flight costs for three of its staff members to participate in an annual space symposium in Colorado.
 
Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator for the Taxpayers' Union, remarked, “The New Zealand Space Agency's constant overseas jaunts on taxpayer dollars are beyond tedious. Spending $11,427.39 on just one flight, representing over 30% of the total trip cost, underscores the lavish tendencies of one of New Zealand's most pointless agencies.”
 
“Given today's technology that facilitates seamless and accessible online meetings from anywhere globally, frequent international travel should be reconsidered across all government departments, especially as we confront the imperative to rein in our escalating national debt.”

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that as part of the Tax Working Group appointed by Grant Robertson, and chaired by the late Michael Cullen, Treasury and IRD conducted analysis on what percentage of exempting GST from certain goods would actually be passed on to consumers.

The expert advice paper, concluded that while cuts to GST/VAT rates are passed on, exemption or multi-rate policies see just 30% of the tax relief passed on to shoppers.

The paper looked at the best available evidence and concluded: 

This research estimated that changes in the general VAT rate were on average fully passed through to consumers. However, changes in rates for specific goods and services were on average not fully passed through and had an estimated average pass through rate of approximately 30 percent.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said:

“A pass through rate of 30% to consumers means that 70% of Labour’s GST carve-out would be captured by the supermarkets. Labour costed the policy at $2.2 billion over the four-year forecast period, so supermarkets in effect get a tax cut of $1.54 billion while consumers enjoy just a fraction.

“This isn’t just a hole, it’s a weevil in Labour’s fruit and vege policy. Supermarkets already enjoy super profits thanks to regulatory taxes like the RMA that prop up their duopoly and put off newcomer competition. They are the last group that Labour should be supporting.

“Here at the Taxpayers’ Union we want tax cuts more than any other group. But we shouldn’t sacrifice what is the best GST or VAT system world over in terms of compliance costs and complexity. We favour income tax relief and other measures that cut out the middle man, and let kiwi workers keep more money in their pockets.

“This will be one of the many reasons Grant Robertson does not like this policy. Deep down Chris Hipkins will also know the policy is shoddy. He should put good policy over good focus group feedback and abandon the folly in favour of policies that will really help those struggling to afford the groceries.”

The Taxpayers’ Union totally rejects Prime Minister Chris Hipkin’s claims that tax relief is unaffordable due to the so-called “cuts” he claims would impact delivery of public services.

Responding to the Labour Party leaders comments Jordan Williams said:

“Chris Hipkins is in la-la land. His flat refusal to acknowledge that Wellington is bloated is beyond belief. From the super-ministries, such as MBIE which has doubled in size, down to the window dressing agencies such as the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, which has tripled in size, New Zealanders are paying more but getting less from Wellington. Even bureaucrats are telling us that their colleagues have non-jobs.

“The only true tax cut is a spending cut. Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins have driven up the cost of the government, driven up the back office headcount, and are primarily responsible for our cost of living crisis. Cuts to the waste, size and cost of Government isn’t just desirable, it is necessary and will help get New Zealand get back on track.”

The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is once again facing criticism for its seemingly lavish spending habits. Recent figures posted by National's public service spokesperson, Simeon Brown, reveal that over $50,000 of taxpayer money was spent on post-Budget breakfast events this year.

Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator for the Taxpayers' Union, reacted by saying, "Once again, we're seeing evidence of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples operating in a bubble, detached from the realities many New Zealanders face daily. Such expenses are hard to swallow, especially when this Ministry is meant to advocate for some of our most economically vulnerable citizens. The fact that they operate in a manner suggesting indifference to fiscal responsibility is deeply concerning."

“The significant growth in the number of staff at the Ministry, from 34 in 2017 to a current 145, combined with the parties and now this latest revelation, raises further questions. Not just about its operational and fiscal strategies, but about the broader culture of waste that appears to have taken root at the heart of our government. It's imperative for government entities to be judicious in their spending, ensuring they deliver value for money, especially at a time when our debt is soaring.”

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with Dr Don Brash to discuss Labour’s proposal to remove GST from fruit and vegetables.

Dr Brash chaired the advisory committee that designed New Zealand’s GST system back in 1985 and has a strong understanding of what makes a simple, efficient tax system. Don has also been Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the leader of both the National and ACT parties, and is currently the spokesperson for Hobson’s Pledge.

New Zealand’s GST system is widely accepted by economists as the best in the world, however many politicians over the years have campaigned to break it by creating exemptions. Creating exemptions polls well in focus groups but, as Don explains, the reality is that these exemptions create extra cost and complexity for very little gain. 

Later in the podcast, the pair discuss solutions for New Zealand’s productivity crisis and what we should be doing to catch up with Australia. 

To support Taxpayer Talk, click here

Responding to National’s Primary Sector Growth Plan, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“National’s plan to get the Beehive out of farming should be welcomed. The agricultural sector is the backbone of New Zealand’s export economy, and any way that the ease of doing business can be increased will only make us more competitive on the world stage.

“Removing the consenting process from low-risk activities such as orcharding and water storage is a common-sense way of immediately reducing the bureaucracy faced by hardworking farmers. However, the fact that National recognize how burdensome this red tape is highlights that the RMA is clearly no longer fit for purpose.

“Removing consenting requirements from these sectors is a great start, but it is just a sticking plaster solution and doesn’t go nearly far enough. The RMA must be significantly reformed to unleash New Zealand’s growth potential.”

A new Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll in the Northland Electorate has National’s Grant McCallum reclaiming the seat with 43% of the electorate vote. Labour's incumbent Northland MP Willow-Jean Prime is currently on 18%, while New Zealand First's Shane Jones makes up 13%.

Among the other parties’ candidates, Matt King of Democracy NZ and Reina Penney for the Green party sit at 4%, ACT's Mark Cameron is sitting at 2% of the electorate vote as is Te Pāti Māori despite the party not standing a Northland candidate. 12% of voters are still undecided or refused to answer. 

As a proportion of the decided votes the breakdown is as follows:

• National’s Grant McCallum: 49% 
• Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime: 20%
• New Zealand First’s Shane Jones: 15%
• Green’s Reina Penney: 5%
• Democracy NZ’s Matt King: 5%
• ACT’s Mark Cameron: 3%
• Te Pāti Māori (no candidate): 2%
• Others: 2%

The poll of 400 respondents was conducted on Sunday, 10 September, 2023. The full results, including the most important local issues for voters, are available here. 

Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says: 

"This poll again shows another sharp swing away from Labour, after they unexpectedly won this seat at the last election from the then National Party MP, Matt King. This doesn't necessarily spell bad news for electorate MP Willow-Jean Prime who will likely make it back into Parliament with a high list position but a swing this significant will definitely be a wakeup call for incumbent Labour MPs around the country. 

“Compared to previous electorate polling, each of the three top-name recognized candidates has just points between them in one of the most geographically spread electorates in New Zealand, with all three top-polling candidates having over 40% visibility within the electorate. 

“With just under three weeks until early voting opens, this seat looks to be safely making its return to National. Even if all of the 11% undecided vote goes to Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime, that won’t be enough to keep Northland red after Election Day.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on all parties to commit to drastically slashing Government spending following today’s Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU) showing Government debt soaring past $160 billion*. By 2027, Net Core Crown Debt is expected to be more than $12 billion higher than forecast at the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update just four months ago.  

Reacting to the PREFU announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“It is clear that Grant Robertson has failed to sufficiently rein in wasteful spending to get the Government’s books back under control. Today’s figures show that the $4 billion in savings found by the Finance Minister are not enough to turn things around and debt continues to grow – we need more radical cuts.

“The books are now so bad that, on a per capita basis, the share of Government debt for a typical family of four is more than $123,000. The sustained levels of increased Government spending – 68% higher than in 2017 – punishes taxpayers twice. First, in the form of inflation which pushes up the cost of essentials, erodes savings and pushes kiwis into higher tax brackets, and secondly, in the form of higher taxes where all of the borrowed money eventually has to be paid back – with interest.

“Now is not the time for tinkering at the margins, New Zealanders need a clear pathway for the Government’s books to return to surplus and a focus on cutting wasteful spending and lowering tax to help drive the economic growth needed to raise the incomes and standard of living for all New Zealanders."

Reacting to the National Party’s announcement that they intend to bring back health targets, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves said:

“National’s policy announcement is a sensible one that should really be expected from political parties of all stripes.

“Setting targets is vital to ensuring that taxpayers are actually seeing the benefits of increased investment in health. For too long, more and more money has been pumped into the bureaucracy with no accountability for how that money is spent and no tracking to see if outcomes are improving.

“Since 2020, health spending has increased by 48% yet the performance of the health system continues to worsen. Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Polling shows that 70% of New Zealanders think the health system is worse than in 2020, the current approach to throwing money at every problem clearly isn’t working."

NEW POLL: National/ACT could form government comfortably 📊💥

This month's Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll sees National and ACT being able to form a Government by a more comfortable margin than last month. Labour continues to languish at a record low while New Zealand First fail to reach the threshold to enter Parliament in this poll. 

Here are the headline results:

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

National goes with an underwhelming tax plan 🔵💸

Last election National ran on a policy to recalibrate the income tax system to account for inflation since John Key was Prime Minister. No such luck this time – despite Mr Luxon's repeated comments that the Government has wasted money, the tax relief being offered, only account for inflation (fiscal drag) back to 2021!

First the good. They committed to:

• Scrapping App Tax. Labour slapped GST on all digital purchases even if the supplier is under the $60,000 threshold, pushing up the prices of Uber and Airbnb

• Pausing Chris Hipkins' proposed fuel taxes hikes over the next three years

• Dumping the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax – it hasn't even been used for the road infrastructure which had been promised!

• Giving some of the money raised through the Emissions Trading Scheme carbon credit auctions back to New Zealanders in the form of a carbon dividend by reducing corporate welfare – but it still wants to keep the political slush fund (just make it smaller)

• Dropping Labour’s GST carve out for fruit and vegetable that would increase the profits of supermarkets

• Restoring interest deductibility on mortgage payments for landlords

• Reducing the bright-line test back to two years – this is just a capital gains tax with another name. Rather than tinker with tax, the National Party should have scrapped it entirely and committed to actually fixing the regulatory taxes that continue to cause the lack of supply and unaffordable housing.

The party says its tax proposals will deliver up to $250 more per fortnight for an average-income family with children. It seeks to do this in two ways:

• First, by expanding tax credits, introducing a new childcare tax credit, and increasing Working for Families tax credits. This is a more targeted measure of getting financial support to those on lower incomes compared with other policies such as removing GST of fruit and vegetables; and

• Secondly, by adjusting tax brackets for the last two years of inflation.

A Labour-lite tax policy?

While the headlines would mislead you, National has watered down its previous pledges to adjust tax brackets to account for inflation since Labour took office in 2017. Never mind since when the brackets were last set back in 2010!

Only adjusting tax brackets for the last two years means that those middle earners not benefiting from their expanded tax credits will still be paying much higher tax on average than they would have been had brackets kept pace with inflation.

The party also committed to review tax brackets every three years, but even that is a backdown from their earlier commitment to indexation.

We say tax brackets should be adjusted for inflation automatically every year, not just when the Finance Minister feels like it.

A policy that basically states 'we'll look at tax relief just prior to each election' is really no different to the status quo.

... and National even want to introduce new taxes!

Despite Christopher Luxon having highlighted the shocking 68 per cent increase in Government spending since 2017 and calling out the Government for its excessive spending on consultants and contractors and other wasteful spending, the savings they have found are tiny.

The party has even had to pledge to introduce new revenue-raising mechanisms to fund its plans, including:

• A new tax on foreigners wanting to buy a home in New Zealand. While Christopher Luxon says New Zealand needs foreign direct investment and become more like Ireland, he wants to welcome them with a new tax!

• Removing commercial building depreciation. This is literally a Labour policy (to fund their own proposed GST fruit and vege carveout) which will make it less attractive to improve and develop buildings

• Hiking the charges to the new immigrants that the National Party says they want to attract (in fairness, it is user-pays).

For those wanting to see something more than a "Labour-lite" economic vision to New Zealand "back on track", this is far from encouraging...

You can read National's tax plan here.

An aspirational target for long-term prosperity 📈💰

ACT announced its productivity policy this week with a bold target for New Zealand to be in the top 10 fastest growing economies in the OECD. 

Under all of the Helen Clark, John Key/Bill English, and Jacinda Ardern/Chris Hipkins governments, New Zealand has continued to become less prosperous and productive than Australia.

Productivity is arguably the most important factor for our long-term prosperity. It is the ultimate driver of higher wages. 

ACT's policy would explicitly require the Government to view policy decisions through a productivity lens. They say that it is only with higher incomes and more wealth can New Zealand afford to pay for high-quality public services. ACT reinforced its commitment to meaningful cuts to taxes and (unlike Mr Luxon) wasteful spending.

Learning lessons from the Celtic Tiger

Our friends at the New Zealand Initiative think tank recently led a business delegation to Ireland where they learnt about that country's spectacular success in improving productivity, growing the economy (thanks, in particular to the country’s openness to foreign direct investment) and rocketing up the OECD economic and living standards league tables.

Ireland’s policies saw their per person income grow from 22% lower than New Zealand in 1979 to 78% higher today. The Initiative's report looks at how we could replicate the success in New Zealand. You can read the report here.

Coming for your digital wallet: Labour looks to introduce one more tax! 💻🤑

Amidst the whirlwind of the election campaign, you may have missed the Government’s announcement that they are introducing yet another new tax – a Digital Service Tax (DST). 

And it isn't just us warning against a DST, even the Government’s own advisors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned the Government that New Zealand exporters could face $90 million in tariffs if we proceed on our own. When countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Turkey and India considered or indeed did implement a DST, the USA responded with tariffs or threats of tariffs unless the tax was withdrawn. 

Another concerning aspect of this tax is that it applies to sales (i.e. revenue) rather than profit. Large tech companies such as Uber run at a loss for many years while they are in the initial stages of growing a company. Taxing them on revenue rather than profit could see tech companies such as Uber and Netflix pass these higher costs onto consumers (or even withdraw from New Zealand completely). 

Whatever happened to that "no new taxes" promise?

Drilling into Labour’s free taxpayer-funded dental policy 🆓🦷

From the desperate political bribes file, Labour have dusted off the old taxpayer-funded dental service.

While the policy sounds appealing on the surface, free dental is nothing to smile about. Just last month, Chris Hipkins said that “the system wouldn’t have the capacity to deal with it, and there would likely be significant investment required just in order to build capacity to meet the need for additional dental care” yet now he is willing to drive the Government’s books further into the red for the sake of buying a few votes!

If you think Chippy can deliver what the old-Chippy said would be too hard, we have 100,000 Kiwibuild houses to sell you.

You're humble Taxpayers' Union has a long memory – Labour appear to have forgotten that back in 2020, the Party promised to deliver an additional 20 mobile dental clinics, but only five have been ordered so far – and the first one hasn’t even arrived yet! So let’s not confuse the promise of more spending with the ability to deliver. 

Universal dental is also a costly and unworkable policy that fails to target support at those who need it most. New Zealand only trains 60 dentists a year, and Labour's strict immigration rules make it difficult for more to come in.

It's an F for MFAT: Kiwis Fund Diplomats' Private School Fees 🎒✈️

Last week, Ollie, our Investigations Co-ordinator, brought to light that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has shelled out a staggering $5 million on private schooling for diplomats' children. What's particularly eye-opening are the amounts spent in countries such as the USA ($817,410.14), Australia ($74,776.98), and the UK ($158,006.02) – nations whose education systems are on par with, if not superior to, New Zealand!

Given the diplomats handsome compensation packages, one can't help but wonder: shouldn't well-compensated diplomats in some of the globe's most developed regions be covering their children’s education expenses?

We say the expenditure comes as a slap in the face to the Kiwi households grappling with financial challenges. You can listen to Ollie on Radio NZ's Morning Report here, or on Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking show here.

Don't like predictable and boring political debates? We've got you covered! 📺🗣️

The Taxpayers' Union debate series hosted by The Working Group is in full swing. We held our party debate in Auckland on Tuesday evening that saw Willie Jackson, Paul Goldsmith, David Seymour, Ricardo Menéndez March, John Tamihere, and Jenny Marcroft battle it out over the economy, crime, the Treaty and the environment. 

Kudos to those politicians – in particular Willie Jackson, whom we often spar with – for fronting up and getting stuck into what was the fieriest debate of the election so far. It was great fun although some were perhaps enjoying themselves a bit too much... Willie Jackson got a little too carried away by initially claiming that National and ACT would abolish the minimum wage and the Prime Minister was forced to clarify his comments.

If you weren't able to watch it live, you can catch up on the action here.

On Tuesday, we head to Kerikeri for our Northland electorate debate. The details to buy tickets are here.

From gamekeeper to poacher? Casey Costello on why she has left the Taxpayers’ Union board to stand for Parliament🎙️🎧

Casey Costello has been on our board since 2019 (including 8 months as our Acting Chair) but recently stepped down to become a candidate for New Zealand First (the Taxpayers’ Union is, of course, non-partisan and not affiliated to any party).

Jordan asked Casey to join the podcast to discuss her work fighting for her political passions: accountability in government, and equality of civil rights. They also cover what drives Casey, and why she chose NZ First over ACT or National.  You can listen to Casey’s exit interview here. 

Casey has been a long-time financial supporter of the Union, volunteered many hundreds of hours as a board member, and we thank her for her commitment to the cause.

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Offsetting Behaviour Transport GPS

Bay of Plenty Times Council debt worries union Tolley refutes figures in report showing only Auckland has a higher net debt 

Hawke's Bay Today Election 2023: Mark Hutchinson decides he will attend Taxpayers’ Union-organised debate

Stuff  Here's how your home could be taxed even if you're not an investor

Hawke's Bay Today Election 2023 Napier: Poll suggests National’s Katie Nimon has early lead

The Daily Blog Taxpayers’ Union Napier Election debate hosted by The Working Group NOW WITH LABOUR CANDIDATE Mark Hutchinson

Hawke's Bay App National's Katie Nimon leading in race for Napier Seat, according to new poll

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: How low can Labour go before October?

The Post Public Service Watch: Rates dissatisfaction a growing storm

Stuff National leads polling in bellwether Napier, but 23 per cent of voters undecided

Interest.co.nz Cyclone & flood damaged homes exempt from bright-line test in voluntary buyout

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Does David Seymour need to apologise? (00:38)

RNZ  MFAT spends $5 million on sending diplomat's children to private schools

NewstalkZB Oliver Bryan: Taxpayers' Union reveals $5m of taxpayer dollars spent on private schooling for diplomats' children overseas

The Platform Taxpayers Union's Connor Molloy on extravagant public service -"Culture of waste"

NBR Air NZ revises capital plan, pays first dividend since 2019

Waikato Times Thames joins Innovating Streets project flops

The Press Cantabrians to be asked for stadium funding, may face levy on tickets

Chris Lynch Bill lowering voting age to 16 triggers alarm for Taxpayers' Union

Newstalk ZB Midday Edition: 29 August 2023

The Daily Blog Taxpayers’ Union Ilam Election debate hosted by The Working Group

BusinessDesk Ilam poll shows Raf Manji and TOP victory 'possible' but tough

NZ Herald Election 2023: National way ahead in Ilam, denting TOP’s chances of entering Parliament

Interest.co.nz A Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll shows The Opportunities Party leader Raf Manji trailing behind National in the Ilam electorate

Newshub The Opportunities Party polling third in Christchurch's Ilam, cutting off path to Parliament

RNZ Christchurch's Ilam electorate swings back to National, according to latest poll

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: What can we expect from National's tax policy?

The Press Ilam's candidates struggle to cut through with voters

Interest.co.nz Reaction pours in to the National Party tax plan, much of it critical but some of it in support

Newshub National's tax policy unveiled: The key points as other parties go on attack

RNZ The Panel with Julie Woods and Nick Leggett (Part 2) – Voting Age

The Press When mention of a crisis is booed, we have a problem

RNZ CTU taks out full page attack ad on National in NZ Herald

Otago Daily Times Nats call out Labour over 'most negative' campaign

Otago Daily Times Hipkins says National 'thin-skinned' over attack advert

Newshub Election 2023: Chris Hipkins calls National 'thin-skinned' for getting offended by union ads, shows examples of attacks on him

The Spinoff Is the CTU running psyops for the NationalParty?

Interest.co.nz National accuses rival Labour of mean spirited attacks over union billboard showing a scowling picture of Christopher Luxon

RNZ The Panel with Moata Tamaira and Mark Knoff-Thomas (Part 1) – Adverts

RNZ National cries foul over new union attack ad against Chris Luxon

Newstalk ZB 'They wouldn't be alone': Finance Minister defends CTU attack ad targeting opposition

RNZ National decries CTU attack ads targeting Christopher Luxon

Newstalk ZB The Front Bench: Attack ads already being published- could this be the most negative campaign yet?

NZ Herald Chris Hipkins plays down unions advert attacking Christopher Luxon, labels National ‘thin-skinned’

The Daily Blog Taxpayers’ Union Party Election debate hosted by The Working Group

NZ Herald Election 2023: Co-governance, Treaty, Māori health, crime and cost of living topics for tonight’s debate

Waatea News CTU attack ads get under National skin

NZ Herald Election 2023: Audrey Young - Christopher Luxon attack advertisement a timely distraction for National

NZ Herald Election 2023: Council of Trade Unions locks building and calls police after anti-Luxon ad generates ‘concerning’ flak

NZ Herald Taxpayers' Union debate

Newstalk ZB Jordan Williams: Taxpayers' Union executive director supports the creation of an Independent Costings Watchdog

Newshub Election 2023: Willie Jackson, David Seymour trade barbs over justice policies

Gisborne Herald Election campaign piquing interest

NBR Aviation sector calls out for collaboration on decarbonisation

Newshub Election 2023: Willie Jackson clarifies claim ACT, Nats would lower minimum wage made during boisterous election debate

Newsroom Loudest voices compete with the Chardonnay

Pacific News Network News 06 September 2023 – Taxpayers' Union Debate 1

Waatea News Vaughan Winiata / Social Provocatuer – Taxpayers' Union Debate

Waatea News Willie Jackson | Minister of Maori Development – Taxpayers' Union Debate

Newshub Election 2023: Labour's Chris Hipkins says Willie Jackson made incorrect claim about National, ACT 'in heat of moment'

1News Hipkins defends MP's 'incorrect' minimum wage comments

BusinessDesk QLDC awards CEO with 8% salary boost, while rates rocket

Waatea News Seymour’s treaty act would overturn law

RNZ Hipkins to have a word with MPs after incorrect statements about National

Waatea News 6th Sept 2023 English News Bulletin 3:30pm – Taxpayers' Union Debate

Newstalk ZB Willie Jackson: Labour Minister maintains he's not deliberately disseminating misinformation after last night's debate

Pacific News Network News 06 September 2023 – Taxpayers' Union Debate 2

Te Karere TVNZ Willie Jackson addresses “most dangerous man in NZ” comments

Newsroom Reserve Bank chair’s ‘totally inappropriate’ work with National Party

Offsetting Behaviour Debating tax

CarbonNews Mixed reactions to Nats EV charger proposal

Newstalk ZB Beehive Buzz: Election 2023, attack ads and Trade Dispute with Canada

The Spinoff Everyone running in Ilam needs to win

National increases 0.1 points on last month to 35.0% while Labour drops 0.6 points to 26.5%. ACT is up 1.3 points to 14.3% while the Greens are up 0.7 points to 12.7%.

The smaller parties are NZ First on 3.9% (-1.9 points), the Māori Party on 2.9% (+0.4 points), TOP on 2.7% (+1.7 points), New Conservatives on 0.8% (+0.2 points), Vision NZ on 0.5% (-0.6 points), and Outdoors and Freedom on 0.2%. (-0.3 points).

National and Labour are both up 1 seat on last month to 45 and 35 seats respectively. ACT is up 2 seats to 19 while the Greens pick up 2 seats for a total of 17. The Māori Party is up 1 seat on last month to 4. NZ First would win no seats in Parliament (-7 seats).

Had NZ First hit the five percent threshold, the Centre-Right would still be able to form a government, but only just (61 seats).

The combined projected seats for the Centre-Right of 64 seats is up 3 on last month and would allow them to form a Government. The combined seats for the Centre-Left bloc of 56 is up 4 on last month. 

More detailed results, including polling on which party is best at dealing with particular issues and favourability ratings of different politicians are available on our website. 

Taxpayers’ Union raises serious concerns over Ministry for the Environment ‘dodgy deals’

The Taxpayers’ Union are seriously concerned to hear that Federated Farmers and other industry groups have been approached by the Ministry for the Environment and offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to help rush through plans under the new Resource Management legislation just weeks out from the election.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“This is incredibly worrying and undermines public trust in the political neutrality of our public service. The RMA reforms are expected to be implemented over a 10-year period, there is no reason for the Ministry to be shovelling money out of the door and rushing through the plan development process just weeks before the election. It seems that the Ministry is of they view that if they can rush through enough of the changes before the election, the next Government may decide that the reforms have gone too far to unwind.

“It is wasteful and unacceptable that the Ministry is seeking to sign contracts that potentially add up to millions of dollars for work just before the election that the opposition have committed to scrapping if they are elected. No private business would sign a major contract for work just weeks before a decision on whether or not that work should be continued – there are clearly other motives here.

“The Taxpayers’ Union will be demanding answers from other government agencies to see whether similar approaches are being taken in respect of Three Waters, Fair Pay Agreements and the GIDI fund. We commend Federated Farmers for rejecting the money on principle and encourage other organisations to do the same."

National ignoring the power of the market when it comes to EV infrastructure

Responding to the National Party’s policy announcement to spend $247 million of taxpayer money to fund charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The National Party needs to realise that more Government doesn’t always have to be the answer. Around the world, we are seeing many successful rollouts of EV charging infrastructure that is completely privately funded. With EVs being much cheaper to run and forecasts for the carbon price to increase, there are already market forces at play that will drive private investment in EV charging infrastructure if the Government simply gets out of the way.

“Removing the need to consent EV chargers is a good start and if the next Government wants more chargers they should sit down with some of the major industry players and work out what other regulatory hurdles can be removed to promote more investment.

“This announcement has nothing to do with carbon emissions which are already capped under the Emissions Trading Scheme. National seems to recognise this when it comes to scrapping the ute tax and Tesla subsidy but seems to forget it with other climate policies when it is politically convenient. Sensible policies that make it easier for people to reduce their carbon footprint to avoid ETS charges make sense but when the policy is simply more taxpayer funding, New Zealanders end up paying anyway through their taxes and end up no better off.

“If this is simple John Key-era corporate welfare for the companies who are making a coin anyway on EV charger networks, it a loss to taxpayers - in particular those who can only dream of affording an electric car.”

If the stream isn't working try clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYqqfR2tg8I

The Taxpayers’ Union is hosting a series of debates in the run up to this year’s election. 

The series will include debates in key electorates and debates on parties’ policies. They will give candidates and parties a great opportunity to set out their stall to voters in advance of the election. 

These debates will be moderated by the hosts of The Working Group podcast, Martyn Bradbury and Damien Grant. The debates will be streamed live on the Taxpayers’ Union website (www.taxpayers.org.nz), The Daily Blog (www.thedailyblog.co.nz), YouTube, Facebook, and Freeview Channel 200. They will also be available to watch or listen back on demand after the event. 

The schedule is as follows:

Exclusive Taxpayers’ Union – Curia polling will also be released prior to the electorate and finance debates. 

Commenting on Labour’s universal dental care announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves said:

“Labour has come up with another populist policy that like its GST debacle sounds good at first, but the cracks begin to show when you drill down into the detail.

“Labour’s announcement of universal taxpayer-funded dental care for under 30s with a long-term ambition to roll this out to all New Zealanders fails to tackle the root of the problem – higher taxes. New Zealanders – particularly those on low and middle incomes – are struggling with the cost of living, but providing dental care for everyone, including those who can well afford to pay for it themselves, will be incredibly expensive and will simply widen the fiscal cavity.

“Universal policies of this nature by definition fail to target support to those who need it most and are not a prudent use of taxpayers’ money. If Labour wants to support those on lower incomes, it would be better to look to increase tax credits or make direct transfer payments, rather than distorting the market and, like fees-free tuition, providing welfare for the well off.”

A radical set of new anti-smoking measures is set to bring New Zealand close to a de facto prohibition on smoking. But with the black market rearing its head, what is the real cost of this crackdown for taxpayers, businesses and the economy?

A major new analysis of Ayesha Verrall's Smoked Tobacco Amendment outlines $1.3 billion in new costs, and argues the legislation is "largely, if not entirely, redundant".

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union spokesman for lifestyle economics Louis Houlbrooke is joined by Phil Barry, a director of TDB Advisory who worked with Infometrics to produce the new report.

You can read the full analysis of the Smoked Tobacco Amendment 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 Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

The Taxpayers' Union can reveal the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) spent over $125,000 for its stall at the recent Hamilton Fieldays.

"MPI's extravagant display at the event showcases financial imprudence. On top of $20,350.72 for their stall, they coughed up nearly $8,000 to transport 30 staff! MPI should be at Fieldays and I am sure their presence is welcome, but 30 staff seems overkill. And with a staggering $96,477.09 for display set-ups, it becomes evident that MPI prioritised show over substance" commented Oliver Bryan, Investigation Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union.

"With farmer confidence at historic lows, the last thing they need to see is the Ministry of Primary Industries spending money on glitzy stalls and sending an army of bureaucrats to Hamilton. Perhaps a better focus would be on reducing red tape and eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy and regulations that burden Kiwi farmers."

Reacting to the National Party’s tax policy announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves said:

“Today’s announcement is a welcome one with some significant victories for taxpayers but we need to see more radical change.

Tax bracket adjustments
“National has disappointingly significantly watered down its previous pledges to adjust tax brackets to account for inflation since Labour took office in 2017 – never mind since when the brackets were last set back in 2011. It’s plans announced today would only adjust tax brackets for inflation over the past two years, meaning those middle earners not benefiting from their expanded tax credits will still be paying much higher tax on average than they would have been had brackets kept pace with inflation.

“While we welcome the proposal to index tax brackets for inflation, these adjustments should be automatic on an annualized basis rather than every three years if the Finance Minister feels like it. If the Government wants to hike taxes, they should legislate for it rather than doing it by stealth.”

Tax credits
“Tax credits are a more targeted measure of getting financial support to those who need it compared with other policies such as removing GST of fruit and vegetables."

Carbon Dividend and climate policy changes
“We have long called for a carbon dividend as a way to help reduce the impacts of rising carbon prices on consumers while continuing to encourage the shift to lower emission production and consumption.

“Excluding agriculture, all other sectors of the economy are already covered by the ETS. There is no need to continue the wasteful spending and corporate welfare on ‘cost-effective climate action’ such as the Green Investment Fund.

Fuel Tax changes
“The commitment to cancel the planned tax hikes will be welcome for families struggling with the cost of living. National also needs to commit to tightening the National Land Transport Fund to ensure that fuel taxes aren’t used to subsidize projects unrelated to roading such as loss-making rail and cycleways.

“The Auckland Regional Fuel tax punished families trying to get by while. Fuel taxes disproportionately hurt those on lower incomes, we welcome its removal."

Landlord tax changes
“The restoration of interest deductibility corrects a distortion that unfairly targeted landlords and reduces long-run incentives to invest in providing housing for others.

“We welcome the move to put the bright-line test back to two years as a good start but this capital gains tax should be removed completely. It fails to address the root cause of the housing crisis which is supply. This tax simply encourages people to hold on to properties past the bright-line period. The way to stop speculation is to increase supply in order to stabilise the price so it is no longer a lucrative venture.

App tax changes
“We welcome the cancelling of the app tax which would further drive up costs of digital services such as Uber and Airbnb for consumers."

Foreign buyer tax
“A foreign buyer tax is better than a complete ban; however, as a country that urgently needs foreign direct investment and to attract international talent we should not be making it more difficult for that to occur.

“If we sort out our boondoggle resource management system and replace it with a system based on property rights and incentivising development, there is no issue with foreign buyers of property. Even before the ban, these buyers made up a fraction of the total property purchases in New Zealand.

Commercial building depreciation
“New Zealand’s location, combined with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the OECD, means we struggle to attract enough investment. Growth has stalled and standards of living have fallen as a result.

“Depreciation deductions encourage building and investment, and both National and Labour’s plans to scrap them will leave New Zealand much poorer in the long run. This short-term thinking from National is putting the election before New Zealand’s future prosperity."

User-pays immigration levies
“We support a user pays system where possible and practical, it is unfair on other taxpayers to subsidise those wanting to come to the country before they have contributed to the tax system."

Cost reductions
“While we welcome the reduction in spending on back-office bureaucrats, these reductions need to go further. With Government spending increasing by 68% since 2017, there is plenty more fat to trim.

“Removing corporate welfare through the GIDI fund is long-overdue with it being one of the most unfair, expensive and ineffective policies we have. It is disappointing to hear that National will continue with other forms of corporate welfare such as film and gaming subsidies which could otherwise be directed at further tax relief."

Costings
“It is encouraging to see that the National Party funded their plan without additional borrowing and received independent peer-reviewing from Castalia – this is the minimum level of fiscal discipline taxpayers should expect from all parties.”

Responding to today’s announcement that the Government will implement a unilateral Digital Services Tax (DST) on large multinational companies, Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“While we support strengthening multinational tax arrangements as a part of a multilateral approach with other OECD countries, taking a unilateral approach with New Zealand-specific rules risk New Zealand’s position in relation to free-trade or other tax negotiations.

“Where there are genuine loopholes in existing international tax arrangements, other countries are also incentivised to close these and we should work with them to do so. However, if we take a unilateral approach without coordinating with our trading partners, we may be seen as undermining free trade principles and unfairly favouring domestic firms over foreign ones. This has concerning implications for an export-based nation such as New Zealand that is reliant on free and open trade globally.

“If we proceed with this tax in the absence of an OECD-wide agreement, we lose all moral authority to argue against retaliatory protectionist measures from our trading partners with policies that, while neutral on paper, would go against the spirit of free trade through a structure that largely targets foreign firms.

“While the DST will only come into effect OECD negotiations if aren’t completed by 2025, this announcement demonstrates a clear lack of confidence in the multilateral process that we should be helping to lead.

“Most of the firms targeted under this proposal would be large US-owned firms, a country which has not been afraid to use protectionist measures against New Zealand in recent history. At a time where we should be seeking to expand our trading relationships with democratic OECD countries, this proposal puts these relationships at risk and could backfire on New Zealand-owned businesses.

“The proposals also risk raising prices for New Zealand consumers of digital services or seeing a reduction in the quality or quantity of services available as overseas companies direct their efforts elsewhere. Furthermore, larger New Zealand companies such as Xero may soon see themselves hit with retaliatory taxes in other countries leading to double taxation.

“The 2019 Government discussion document ‘Options for taxing the digital economy’ estimated that a DST would raise between $30 million and $80 million in tax revenue – a small amount of revenue in relation to the economic damage that would be caused if angered trading partners were to retaliate.”

A new Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll in the Ilam Electorate has National reclaiming their former Christchurch stronghold comfortably, with 33% of the electorate vote. Labour’s Sarah Pallett is currently sitting on 15%, while Raf Manji, the leader of The Opportunities Party is polling at 14% – a statistical tie for second place. 

Among minor parties, 5% of respondents would vote for the Greens candidate Mark Davidson, while 5% and 4% of voters said they would vote for ACT and Te Pāti Māori respectively, despite those parties not standing candidates in Ilam. NZ First and other parties are polling under 2%. 23% of voters, however, are either undecided or refused to answer. 

The poll of 400 respondents was conducted on Wednesday, 23 August 2023. The full results, including the most important local issues for voters, are available here.

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says: 

“This poll shows a sharp swing away from Labour, after they unexpectedly won this seat at the last election from then deputy leader of National, Gerry Brownlee. While a snapshot of public sentiment rather than a concrete prediction of October’s election, it spells bad news for Labour backbencher and electorate MP Sarah Pallett, who is unlikely to be re-elected on the list, as well as Raf Manji, who carries the hopes of The Opportunities Party on his shoulders in trying to improve on his results as an independent candidate in 2017. Both will need to break out from their competition if they want to stand a chance against the popular Dr Hamish Campbell, running for National and replacing Gerry Brownlee. 

“However, each of the candidates are struggling with name recognition in this remarkably locally focused election, with all three top-polling candidates having less than 40% visibility within the electorate. With 18% of the electorate undecided, and plenty of time to go before the election, this race is sure to be an interesting one.” 

Reacting to today’s announcement that the Government intends to cut costs amounting to $4 billion over four years, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“This is too little, too late. Government spending has increased by 68% since 2017 yet there is nothing to show for it, except out of control cost of living and ballooning government debt. Taxpayers’ Union – Curia polling shows that despite massive increases in spending, most New Zealanders think key public services have actually got worse.

“Kiwis have been struggling with rampant inflation and the rising cost of living for the past two years, yet it seems the Government has only just realised that they are the cause of these problems. We need cuts of $40 billion in one year, not $4 billion over four.

“With this underwhelming announcement, at least the Government has demonstrated that it is possible to reduce spending without reducing core services. The Government needs to show some courage and unwind the damage of the past few years’ excessive wasteful spending and deliver meaningful spending cuts to the tune of tens of billions of dollars."

The Taxpayers' Union can reveal that KiwiRail have spent millions of taxpayer dollars on flights and higher cars for staff transport in the past year yet have not spent a single cent on rail. Information obtained by the Taxpayers' Union under the Official Information Act can reveal that between April 2022 and April 2023, the organization spent a hefty $1.2 million on hire cars and a staggering $4.5 million on flights. Further clarification showed that of the latter amount, $900k was dedicated to international flights.

Taxpayers' Union Investigations Coordinator, Oliver Bryan, said:

“It seems that KiwiRail has little confidence in its own services. Kiwis will be rightly shocked to discover that while they battle the rising cost of living, KiwiRail staff are spending million galavanting around the country – and the world – at taxpayers' expense."

"With the National Land Transport Fund continually being raided to fund loss-making rail services, it is unfair that families have to bear the brunt of higher fuel taxes to fund the excessive and expensive travel of the organisation that continuously fails to deliver reliable, economic services to taxpayers."

“The excessive spending on flights and hire cars is unacceptable and demands immediate attention. KiwiRail needs to show some restraint with taxpayers’ hard-earned cash.”

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with Casey Costello, a former chair and board member of the Taxpayers’ Union who recently resigned in order to stand as a candidate for New Zealand First in this year's election. 

Casey has had a successful career in the police force, running her own business and as the spokesperson for Hobson’s Pledge. 

Jordan and Casey discuss how Casey got involved in the Taxpayers’ Union including her time as a board member and chairperson and some of the key battles that have been fought along the way.

Finally, Jordan quizzes Casey as to why she joined New Zealand First and what she envisions for the country should she be successful at this year's election. 

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 Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

The Taxpayer’s Union is condemning Kāinga Ora for spending more than $300,000 per year on Bloomberg computer terminals, noting that issuing its own debt rather than going through Treasury is costing taxpayers more.

Kāinga Ora revealed that it spends $312,025 per year on seven Bloomberg computer terminals, to monitor an external debt of more than $12 billion that the agency has accumulated through its large-scale housing projects. These computers are on loan until March 2024, under contract. The Treasury, which handles the external debt of other government agencies, has thirteen Bloomberg terminals, by comparison. This will increase when Kāinga Ora’s financing is taken over by the Treasury, achieving cheaper servicing at the cost of the organisation’s independence.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says:

“As New Zealand’s worst landlord, Kāinga Ora has shown a continuous disregard for the taxpayers who fund them while also spectacularly failing to fix the ongoing housing crisis.

“With the incredible cost of leasing financial computers year on year, you would think that Kāinga Ora would be more careful with its budgeting. Instead, until the Treasury made the move to take over Kāinga Ora’s loans and debt services, the organisation was actively choosing further costs over checks and balances on its constant spending.

“The number of computers that Kāinga Ora have leased is not only inconsistent with its size compared to the Treasury, but also comparatively lavish. Recent Taxpayer’s Union – Curia polling has shown that despite spending more and more on the bloated public service, the public do not see that spending translating into results through better services and outcomes.

“The next Government must get Kāinga Ora under control and place a stronger focus on practical solutions such as reforming the RMA to enable more housing to be built and getting rid of the nonsensical rules that artificially constrain housing and drive up rents."

Jonesie Waste Awards 2023

In a year fraught with challenges and uncertainties, The Taxpayers’ Union took it upon themselves to shine a light on the spending choices made by our governing entities. Presenting to you, the Jonesies Waste Awards 2023.
 
Local Government Nominees:
 
1. Otago Regional Council’s Wallaby Nightmare: Despite pouring more than $2.76 million and dedicating over 26,000 hours, the Otago Regional Council managed to capture only 18 wallabies. Price per wallaby? A whopping $153,422.72. It would’ve been cheaper to send them back to Australia on a private jet each.

2. Far North District Council Has Gone Barking Mad: Far North District Council's transformation of Melka Kennels for 24 dogs, with a budget of $200,000, skyrocketed to $2.4 million for just 10 dogs. That's $240,000 for each dog. And thanks to funds from the Covid “shovel-ready” Provincial Growth Fund grant, we all paid for it.

3. Auckland's Transport Shun Their Services at Our Cost: In 2022, Auckland Transport staff appeared to fly more than they rode their own buses. $189,993.47 went on flights, $27,524.16 on Ubers and taxis, dwarfing the mere $4,778.04 spent on bus services. It seems that Auckland Transport agree with residents that their service isn’t up to scratch.

4. Hamilton's Botched Bus Stop: Hamilton City Council in a joint project with Waka Kotahi, spent $2.5 million on building, tearing down and then rebuilding a bus stop. The project started four months later than planned and went $500,000 over the budgeted cost. Once construction was completed they realised that the concrete path had been laid at the wrong angle making it a risk to wheelchair users. After significant financial investment, they managed to make the bus stop less usable. Eventually, the new bus shelters had to be removed and then reinstalled in order to allow the work to be completed.

5. Horowhenua District Council’s Landfill Liability: Initially estimated at $7,500, the Horowhenua District Council’s consultancy costs for evaluating a landfill's profitability skyrocketed to $895,000 without a formal business plan or contract in sight. 
 
 
Top Honours for Local Government Wastefulness: The Otago Regional Council!
 
 
Central Government Nominees:

1. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Private School Privileges: Taxpayers have forked out $4,999,823 for private schooling for diplomats’ kids in many countries with similar or superior state schooling to New Zealand. Despite Kiwi state education in ruins, 63 diplomats sent their kids to prestigious private schools internationally on the taxpayer dollar. $74,776.98 was spent in Australia and $817,410.14 in the US. Other countries included China, Korea, the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Ireland and Canada.

2. Let’s Get Wellington Moving, The Gaff That Keeps on Giving: The Cobham Drive crossing spearheaded by Let’s Get Wellington Moving came with a price tag of $2.4 million, with consultancy fees alone amounting to $500,000.

3. Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ Golden Goodbye Gala: The Ministry for Pacific Peoples hosted a $40,000 farewell bash for its former CEO, a lavish affair during tough economic times. The breakdown of the expenses includes $7,500 on gifts, $3,000 on photographers, drummers and flowers. $7,000 on travel and accommodation for specific attendees.

4. Ministry of Health, Penny For Our Thoughts: The Ministry of Health spent $334,000 seeking public opinions on its performance, and developing graphics highlighting the fact that barely anyone thinks they’re doing a good job. One social media graphic they promoted proudly said that only 6% had a positive view of them.

5. Ministry of Education’s Dot Com Bust: The Ministry of Education spent $100,000 on the development of a new website before deciding it wasn’t necessary and never launched it. It appears they began developing the site before realising they were creating a new online hub this year so the site would become obsolete almost immediately. $100,000 with nothing to show for it.
 
 
Lifetime Achievement in Waste: 

Donovan Clarke, the former Chief Executive (CE) of Toitū te Waiora, a Government Workforce Development Council, faced scrutiny over extravagant overseas expenditures on the taxpayer's dime. Clarke's expenses included lavish meals like lobster feasts and calamari canapés, daily late-night taxi rides, and considerable room service charges at his four-star hotel. Interestingly, the conference he attended was organized by the Council of Ambulance Authorities, chaired by David Waters, Clarke's own chairman. In one instance, Clarke indulged in an extravagant seafood dinner, followed by a taxi ride at 3:36 am to his hotel, only to leave for the airport just three hours later. After landing, Clarke charged taxpayers $22 for breakfast and $80 for access to Singapore Airlines' luxury sky lounge. Many of his expenses were ambiguously labeled, raising questions about the identity of his dining companions. In his first 11 months as CE, Clarke spent $72,862.03 on his taxpayer-funded credit card, more than double the amount of his five CE counterparts combined. Despite Toitū te Waiora's 2022 Annual Report, which Clarke approved, emphasizing its 'Sensitive Expenditure Policy', questions arose about its enforcement or adherence. Subsequent to the arising queries, Clarke was placed on six months of paid leave before resigning after an employment dispute costing taxpayers nearly $328,000 in various fees. The exact amount given to Clarke as part of a severance deal remains undisclosed. Satirically, there's speculation about a dispute over a taxpayer-funded lobster-bib, which remains unconfirmed. The article concludes by hoping that Clarke stays away from taxpayer-funded roles in the future and jests about his extravagant tastes. His cost to the taxpayer has been truly epic. And we hope you agree that he’s a worthy winner.

The Taxpayers' Union has obtained information through an Official Information Act request (OIA) that the Ministry of Health has spent a hefty $330,000 on a nationwide advertising campaign. This campaign, ironically titled 'Your Views on Health,' was launched in December 2022. Its intention? To engage the public and prioritise their involvement in the health system, all while highlighting how poorly the public thinks the Ministry is performing.
 
An astonishing $80,000 of the total sum was allocated for social media boosting. Even more shockingly, the Ministry chose to proudly promote a post that exposed the fact that a dismal 6% of surveyed individuals believed they had access to adequate health services. 
 
Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, remarked, “They've not only frittered away taxpayers' money but further tarnished the Ministry's already negative image. They’ve paid through the nose to broadcast their own ineptitude. One has to wonder if they're vying for a comedy award. A post triumphantly crowing about how a pitiful 6% of the public think they've got their act together on healthcare. You couldn't make this stuff up. It's like a chef spending a fortune on ads to tell you his restaurant will probably give you food poisoning.”
 
Bryan further commented, “It's high time the Ministry centred its efforts on creating tangible solutions to the health system's evident deficiencies, rather than pouring money into such fruitless advertising endeavours.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is in disbelief over National’s announcement that they will continue with Labour’s failed and expensive fees-free tertiary education policy if elected in October.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager Callum Purves, said:

“We are starting to wonder if Christopher Luxon has been reading Labour’s policies instead of his own. First it was the winter energy payment, now it’s fees free. National took the principled and morally and fiscally responsible stance by opposing fees free when it was introduced, now they have done a u-turn that is beyond belief.

“Our 2017 report ‘Robin Hood Reversed: How Free Tertiary Education Robs Today’s Poor for Tomorrow’s Rich’ outlined the moral arguments around the inherent unfairness of forcing those on lower incomes to pay for the higher-education of people who will eventually earn more then them, explained why this would create free riders and would lead to lower quality education.

“Unfortunately we have been vindicated and, on top of that, the policy hasn’t even been successful in attracting more students to university. The policy is a moral and fiscal failure. Affordability of university fees is already addressed by the generous student loan scheme, if National want more people attending universities they need to focus their efforts on repealing and replacing the new RMA with a law that makes it cheaper for affordable housing to be built in our largest centres.”

Now that Air NZ is well and truly back in the black, it’s time the Government quit owning a majority stake in our national airline says the Taxpayers’ Union.

Responding to today’s market announcement that Air NZ's revenue has shot back to pre-covid levels, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Jordan Williams said:

“Back in 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, Grant Robertson claimed that his support package ‘protected Air New Zealand’, and essential routes and allows the company to keep operating. In fact, the beneficiaries were foreign bond holders who didn’t lose a cent despite having lent to the airline for above average interest rates – to compensate for the inherent risks of airline businesses. Thanks to Grant Robertson, foreign giants got to have their cake and eat it too, on the back of taxpayers.”

“Across the Tasman, lenders to Virgin, took a bath thanks to the pandemic. But the planes were back in the air just as fast as Air NZ, and it didn’t cost Australian taxpayers a cent.”

“Any frequent flier will attest to the quality of Air NZ’s services having declined since it became a Government-owned company. With the obvious conflict of interest Christopher Luxon has with having worked for the airline and possibly becoming the Prime Minister, National needs to confirm that it is their intention to sell down the shareholding before the next inevitable shock hits the airline.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the National Party’s decision to continue the Winter Energy Payment if elected, without further targeting it to those who actually need it.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves said:

“This is exactly the kind of wasteful spending that National should be campaigning against, instead they are choosing to do what they think is popular and continuing funding the Winter Energy Payment for all retirees regardless of whether they need it or not.

“Unfortunately for National, most New Zealanders agree with us that the payment should be means tested and targeted only at those superannuitants on lower incomes. Taxpayers Union – Curia polling in May showed that a majority (58%) of people supported means testing for those over 65 while only 30% oppose such targeting.

“National needs to show they are committed to fiscal discipline by promising to means test the Winter Energy Payment."

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is sounding the alarm over a recent OIA response, revealing that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (MFAT) $5 million annual spend on private schooling for diplomats' children, more than $2.25 million is being channelled into countries whose state education systems are either on par with or even surpass that of New Zealand.

Taxpayers' Union spokesman Oliver Bryan said, "In an era where countless Kiwi households wrestle with mounting living costs and the shortcomings of our own education system, it's downright scandalous for the taxpayers to bankroll the premium education of diplomats' children abroad. Considering the handsome packages diplomats already receive, why aren't they covering their own children's schooling expenses?"

"If these funds were catering to diplomats in regions with significantly worse education systems or in war zones, it'd be a different discussion entirely - and in some cases understandable, but this isn't the case. We are paying millions for children to attend private schools in countries where the state system is better than ours."

"It's simply indefensible for 63 of our 260 diplomats to enjoy taxpayer-funded private school perks, especially when our own education system faces so many challenges", said Bryan. "Our teachers, nurses and police officers don't enjoy such taxpayer-subsidized perks for their children. This stark inequality is unjust and must end. New Zealanders shouldn't be on the hook for the private schooling costs of a select few." 

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Public Service Commissioner to immediately direct all Government departments to put an end to extravagant parties for their staff. This comes after today’s revelations that the Department of Internal affairs spent $17,000 on a welcome party for the new Deputy Chief Executive.

Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy said:

“This shows that there is a culture of waste plaguing the Wellington bureaucracy. Far from being an isolated incident, the earlier $40,000 leaving party for the Ministry for Pacific Peoples was just the tip of the iceberg and a pattern of behaviour from bureaucrats who have no respect for taxpayer money is showing.

“At the Taxpayers’ Union, when a new staff member arrives we do home baking which is not only more cost-effective, but is also more meaningful and as it comes from the heart and is great for team spirits.

“Spending more than $5,000 on a livestream of the event is simply ridiculous. You would expect a live-stream of a funeral but live-streaming a welcome party is a new level of extravagance. The only thing to mourn here is the complete waste of taxpayer money yet ordinary taxpayers didn’t even get the opportunity to watch it.

“It is time for the Wellington bureaucracy to face up to the reality that they are spending too much while families continue to struggle with the cost of living. Extravagant parties provide absolutely no value to the taxpayer and so they must be ended.”

A new Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll shows that National's Katie Nimon is leading the race for the Napier seat with 48% of decided voters compared to Labour's Mark Hutchinson at 37%.

New Zealand First’s Laurie Turnbull is third with 5% and 4% of respondents said they would vote for the Te Pāti Māori candidate despite there being no declared candidates for the party in Napier. The remaining candidates are on 2% or less. However, 18% of voters remain undecided and 6% refused to say who they would vote for.

The poll of 400 respondents was conducted on Sunday, 20 August 2023. The full results, including the most important local issues for voters, are available here.

New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“This poll is snapshot rather than a prediction but, if repeated on election day, would mean a convincing win for National’s Katie Nimon. Having been held by Labour’s Stuart Nash since 2014, these numbers would have the Napier electorate turning blue for the first time since Chris Tremain was the local National Party MP.

“Katie Nimon has managed to pull some voters away from the Labour candidate with 13% of those who voted for Stuart Nash in 2020 opting for Nimon this time around compared with just 1% of those who voted for Katie Nimon in 2020 opting to vote for the new Labour candidate, Mark Hutchinson.

“But with 24% of voters still either undecided or refusing to say how they intend to vote, there is still plenty of time for both candidates to make an impression and the result is far from a certainty.

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning against additional measures aimed at making vaping less accessible which will result in more people continuing to smoke rather than switching to safer alternatives.

Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, says:

“While we share the concerns of many around the sale and supply of vaping products to minors and support the increased penalties for doing so, we are concerned about the impact further restrictions on the accessibility of smoking alternatives will have on those seeking to switch to a safer alternative such as vaping.

“Banning advertising will make it even more difficult for vape retailers to market their products as a safer alternative to cigarettes meaning these people are less likely to be persuaded to switch to the option with less tar and less tax. As it stands the rules are already too strict when it comes to the promotion of vaping products with absurd rules making it illegal for a store attendant to suggest vape products to a person trying to buy cigarettes.

“Reducing the amount of nicotine in vapes will further limit the appeal of this safer alternative to smokers meaning more people continue to smoke instead. Furthermore, the additional restrictions on disposable vapes will make it more costly and inconvenient for a current smoker to try out vaping first before fully committing to a refillable unit.

“The decision to limit the number of stores to only 600 will leave many communities without a nicotine retailer, except the local gang who will be selling full-strength, tax-free and unregulated tobacco to anyone who wants it – no ID needed. This proposal will add more costs, both time and money, to smokers wanting to switch to vaping products. For many, the extra costs will be too much and they will simply revert to the tobacco black market that already supplies 1 in 8 cigarettes smoked in New Zealand."

Responding to reports of a concerted effort to further restrict alcohol licences in Wellington, Taxpayers’ Union Researcher, James Ross, said:
 
“Wellington City Council has been crying poverty, leading to an average rates increase of 12.3% just this year alone. Is it any wonder the city is finding itself short of cash when it seems to be doing everything in its power to drive away business?
 
“Government agencies like Te Whatu Ora are using taxpayers’ money lobbying to make sure individual bars fail. These agencies have no right to moralise over how people choose to spend their hard-earned cash, and the Council certainly have no right to demand higher rates to compensate for the economic damage caused by their own puritanism.
 
“As it stands, why would you ever choose to invest in Wellington’s night-time economy? After investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the city, the best case scenario seems to be ending up mired in months of bureaucracy and legal challenges. In far too many cases, when licences are arbitrarily denied, entrepreneurs may as well have just burnt the money. Wellington needs to reassess its priorities and signal that it’s open for business.”

Commenting on the IRD’s reinterpretation of Labour’s 2021 amendment to the bright-line test, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manger, Callum Purves, said:
 
“When John Key’s Government introduced the bright-line test in 2015, this was the start of a slippery slope. Although the test originally only applied to investment properties sold within two years of being purchased, the National Party opened the back door for a capital gains tax.
 
“As many warned at the time, the IRD’s reinterpretation of Labour’s 2021 amendment to the test now means that working Kiwi families can be taxed on the value of their family home. Even if you only own one house, and even if your partner or kids are still living at home, if you spend a few months away the IRD is now bending logic to call you a property speculator to wring as much tax out of you as possible.
 
“The National Party’s commitment to wind the bright-line test back to 2015 doesn’t go far enough, and the test needs to be scrapped entirely. The IRD has shown it will bend the rules to tax families any way it can, and if National give an inch they will take a mile.”

Responding to the National Party’s announcement of plans to fund 13 cancer treatments through the reintroduction of the $5 prescription fee, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Scrapping the $5 prescription fee saw taxpayers subsidising the well-off, and we welcome this move by the National Party to limit free prescriptions to those in genuine need.

“Rather than giving handouts to those who don’t need them, funnelling this money back into Pharmac’s main budget will allow greater funding for essential medical treatments. This is a much more efficient way to target support towards vulnerable Kiwis.

“However, Pharmac must be free from political interference. Ring-fencing these funds specifically for cancer treatments limits Pharmac’s ability to decide how best to fund effective treatments.

“Medical experts should be the ones making decisions on what treatments will maximise New Zealanders’ Quality-Adjusted Life Years within their given budget, not any political party.” 

Commenting on Labour’s transport announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“Fuel taxes hit the poorest and rural communities the hardest who rely on their cars to travel and get to work. The announcement that fuel taxes would rise a further 12 cents under the Government’s plans will be a further slap in the face to New Zealanders who are already struggling with the cost of living.

“Despite tough talk on supporting those on low incomes, the Government has already put fuel taxes back up to a level where about half of the cost of filling up is paid in tax.

“Fuel taxes are justified to road users on the grounds that they fund road maintenance, but they are already being used as a slush fund to cover the costs of public transport and cycleway investment. Today’s announcement suggests that motorists are going to continue to be used as cash cows to subsidize non-road projects.

“The Government could fund significant levels of investment without increasing fuel taxes if it simply reverted the National Land Transport Fund back to what it was designed for – funding road maintenance and upgrades - or other user-pays forms of funding."

The Taxpayers’ Union has uncovered that the newly launched Aroā Wellbeing website, bankrolled by Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority), carried a staggering price tag of $1 million. Of this, $300,000 was allocated to the website's actual design and creation. This discovery prompts the Taxpayers’ Union to scrutinize where the remaining $700,000 was directed, especially as the OIA stated that “the Ministry does not hold information on breakdown of costs into areas such as music, voice actors, and graphic design.”

Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers' Union, commented, "It's alarming to see such a vast amount of taxpayer money funnelled into a project without clear cost transparency. Allocating close to $300,000 exclusively for the website's design is a tough pill to swallow. The pressing concern lingers – what became of the $700,000? New Zealanders rightly expect a transparent account of these expenditures."

"With a tally of just 47,784 website visits, the expenditure translates to an exorbitant $20 for each single view. This cost is hard to justify given the paltry results. Although they encouraged people to 'share their ideas' for the project, a mere three emails from the 47,000+ visitors have landed in their inbox."

"The concern extends beyond just the monumental sum invested. We need to gauge the benefit  this project brings. Given the lacklustre user interaction, it begs the question: are taxpayers truly seeing a worthy return on their investment?”

"Despite a $1.9 billion spend on mental health, Kiwis are still struggling to get the support they need and outcomes have yet to improve. For the cost of this website, the Government could have funded thousands of counselling sessions through a charity or funded more mental health nurses.”

The Taxpayers' Union can reveal that Porirua City Council’s Matariki holiday public event cost ratepayers $200,000. The event ran for just five evenings in July, and consisted of a Matariki-themed animation projected onto the walls of the Te Rauparaha Arena. The animation looped for 3 hours a day, from 6 pm to 9 pm, working out at 15 hours total display time.

According to a Local Government Official Information Act request, the total cost for this project included $70,174 for design and video production, $8,100 on advertising, and $114,940 on "technical projection equipment and services.”

Reacting to this, Oliver Bryan, Investigations Coordinator at the Taxpayers’ Union, commented, “Given the significant investment poured into this project, I’d have expected at least a popcorn stand for the grand premiere. Any responsible council would likely aim for a longer exhibition or, at the very least, provide an extended online showcase post-event. But in what can only be described as blatant wastefulness, the council briefly showcased it and then hastily withdrew it.”

”Here's the real shocker: it's hard to fathom that this is the same council that audaciously approved a 10% rate hike earlier this year. They are now spending what amounts to 58 years of an average ratepayer's contributions on just 15 hours of display! It is a disgrace."

“The city council needs to reflect, reassess their priorities, and stop passing on costs for their extravagance onto struggling local kiwis.”

It's definitely election season with the spending bribes announcements coming in thick and fast. Your humble taxpayer advocates are keeping count and will be 'keeping 'em honest' in the weeks to come.

The main news this week has been Labour's new tax policy. Here at the Taxpayers' Union we love tax relief. But Chris Hipkins has achieved the impossible: Proposing a tax cut that even we don't like! We didn't think it was possible.

While the heath system declines, we blow the whistle on a one million dollar 'wellbeing' website funded by the Māori Health Authority, sorry, taxpayers.

And last of all we respond to the hundreds of emails received last week questioning whether Ruth Richardson really still uses a Blackberry.

A Tale of Two Taxes: A few cents off fruit and veg 🥝🥕

On Sunday, we had Labour's much anticipated tax announcement. But it was something of a damp squib. The Prime Minister made just two announcements: A big bit of jam for the base in the form of an increase to the Working for Families tax credit and one to get the headlines, the removal of GST off fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables. 

This is same policy that Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, described as a 'boondoggle'. The old Mr Robertson clearly understood that the reduction in GST would unlikely be passed onto customers in full and would simply line the pockets of the big supermarket chains while also making our tax system more complicated.

These policies coupled with things like previous announcements on free prescriptions, free childcare and public transport subsidies are sticking plaster solutions that fail to tackle the root cause of the financial problems Kiwi families are facing. High inflation has been driven by high government spending and this, in turn, has forced Kiwis to pay a higher share of their wages in tax each and every year. If politicians really want to help Kiwi families, those are the issues they need to tackle.

But another massive fuel tax hike to come ⛽🤑

Rather than tax relief, on Thursday we got an announcement of another tax hike. To fund their new $20 billion transport plan, the Government intends to hike fuel taxes by a 14c per litre (that's 12 cents plus the GST) over the next three years. Let's not forget that fuel taxes were only just increased by 29c per litre on 1 July this year!

Taxpayers' Union Investigation: Māori Health Authority’s million dollar website 🔍💻

This week, Taxpayers' Union, Investigations Co-ordinator, Ollie Bryan revealed that Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority) has spent an eye-watering $1,000,000 on their new Aroā Wellbeing website that invites users to 'scroll through the forest' to 'cleanse', 'breathe' and 'connect'. 

While $300,000 was spent on the website's design and creation, the Ministry could not provide the detail of how the remaining $700,000 was allocated as it did "not hold information on breakdown of costs into areas such as music, voice actors, and graphic design." The website has only been viewed 47,784, which translates into $20 for each single view.

Kiwis are still struggling to get the mental health support they despite a $1.9 billion spend and action needs to be taken to improve outcomes. This money could have instead be used to fund thousands of counselling sessions through a charity or more mental health nurses.

Taxpayer Talk with Mark Mitchell 🎙️🎧

This week on Taxpayer Talk, our Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with National Party Police Spokesperson, Mark Mitchell, to discuss National’s plan for law and order if they are successful in the election later this year. 

Jordan and Mark discuss the increasing levels of crime in New Zealand, gang numbers, and what the National Party would do should they be in Government after the election. They also cover the new firearms registry, whether it will make the country more safe and if it is worth the significant establishment costs. 

Listen to the episode | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

And one more thing: Yes, Ruth Richardson still owns a Blackberry 🤳🏻📞

Last week, Ruth Richardson sent many of our supporters an email about New Zealand's serious debt problem. We were surprised to receive quite a number of replies from people who couldn't quite believe the 'Sent from my BlackBerry' sign off at the bottom. We asked Ruth to furnish us with photographic evidence of her preferred telecommunications device and, yes, she is, in fact, possibly the last remaining BlackBerry user on the planet. You can't beat that full keyboard!

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald Election 2023: New poll shows Labour crashing, NZ First rising, and National-Act with enough support to govern

RNZ POLITICS ELECTION 202310 Aug 2023 Taxpayers Union poll suggests seven seats for NZ First, in opposition

Hawke's Bay Today Tararua rates ‘middle of the pack’

The Spinoff Another poll shows NZ First would be back in parliament

NZ Herald Claire Trevett: Latest poll - Labour now at risk of collapse, driving voters to the Greens

RNZ The Panel with Anna Dean and Phil O'Reilly (Part 1) – TU Curia Poll

interest.co.nz The latest Taxpayers' Union poll shows NZ First could be back in parliament with Winston Peters at the helm of a 7-person caucus

The Daily Blog BOOM: Latest TU Curia Poll: Labour crash – Winston is back

The Common Room Hipkins’ government enters election season in disarray

Pacific Media News PMN News 10 August 2023 – TU Curia Poll

NewstalkZB Six And a Song - The Election Edition: NZ First's Winston Peters

NewstalkZB Afternoon Edition: 10 August 2023 – TU Curia Poll (01:20)

NewstalkZB THE HUDDLE: DOES ACT'S SENTENCING POLICY HAVE MERIT? The Huddle: Does ACT's sentencing policy have merit?

RNZ Taking the public pulse with political polls

Waikato Times Thames joins Innovating Streets project flops

NZ Herald Water reforms: Alternative plan from Taxpayers’ Union ready by October elections

Politik He’s back

NBR Jackson vs Seymour, Remuera lawyer-angst, Hallenstein over boards

Stuff Labour's new polling 'shows rosier picture' for party

NewstalkZB Brigette Morten: Political commentator examines latest Taxpayers' Union Curia poll

AM Show Election 2023: Labour does 'absolutely not' have plans to replace Chris Hipkins before voting day - Ginny Andersen

RNZ Political Panel – TU Curia Poll

Radio Samoa Sau i luma le vaa o le NZ First – palota a le Taxpayers Union

Waatea News Peters ready to plant more trees

The Platform The Taxpayers' Union explains their new significant poll

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey Our world-beating banks + AMA

The Westport News Buller District Council says staff numbers are wrong [print only]

NZ City Minor conservative parties could pull support from the right bloc this election

The Post Labour's not dead, but it's lurching into last-gasp territory

Newshub Nation 'Luxon has a very difficult decision to make': NZ First's polling - Jordan Williams

Newshub Nation '30-40% of people haven't fully made their mind up, there's votes to win'

The Central App Mayor’s column: Council debt - fact and fiction

Kiwiblog Proactive work on a Three Waters replacement

Bush Telegraph Report says council rates are average [print only]

The Listener Wealth tax or food GST exemption: Which could make our tax system fairer?

The Post Green Party's 'zero carbon' loans will compete with banks' no-interest energy efficiency home loan top-ups

The Spinoff Will Labour choke on its GST-free food policy?

The Platform David Farrar on New Zealand politics and polls

The Platform Mainstream media mired in mistrust

Croaking Cassandra The $11bn men and women of the MPC

The Post Voters to Labour: key govt services worse since 2020 - poll

NBR Fairer supermarket profit more important than GST on/off fruit

The Northland Age FROM THE OTHER SIDE Kids need rules -- they did me no harm as a child [print only]

NZ Herald Government unveils $20b transport plan - but fuel taxes going up 12 cents to pay for it

NZ Herald Government’s $20b transport plan: Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and the AA support fuel tax hike to pay for major projects

Hawke's Bay Today Labour Party candidate Mark Hutchinson opts out of televised Napier electorate debate

NewstalkZB Kerre Woodham: With an election approaching, Labour have fallen in love with roads

NZ Herald On the Tiles – Episode 62: Political polls - how do they work?

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with National Party Police Spokesperson, Mark Mitchell, to discuss National’s plan for law and order if they are successful in the election later this year. 

Prior to entering Parliament, Mark was a police officer and was a member of the Dog Section and Armed Offender’s Squad. He has also had an international business career, including the start-up of his own company specialising in hostage rescue, supply chain security, and risk management. He has also worked in emergency response providing humanitarian support overseas. Mark is also National’s spokesperson for the Serious Fraud Office, Counter-Terrorism and Corrections.

Jordan and Mark discuss the increasing levels of crime in New Zealand, gang numbers, and what the National Party would do should they be in Government after the election. 

Also discussed is the new firearms registry, whether it will make the country more safe and if it is worth the significant establishment costs. 

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 Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

Responding to the National Party’s plan to cut red tape for KiwiSavers, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“New Zealanders should be free to save and invest their money however they see fit, and we welcome this decision by the National Party to go back to treating savers like responsible adults.

“Allowing savers to choose how to invest their savings will not only allow New Zealanders to see greater potential returns on their investments, but diversified investments will allow Kiwis to reward innovation and entrepreneurship. This extra financial freedom will be a tremendous boon to New Zealand’s economy.

“Ineffective red tape which does nothing but invade savers’ privacy and drive up the cost of borrowing should also be resigned to the scrap heap. Hopefully National’s pledge to reform the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance and Conduct of Financial Institutions Acts is only the first step of many towards getting bureaucracy out of the way of New Zealand’s prosperity.”