Responding to the Minister of Finance’s announcement today of an independent review into COVID-19 monetary policy, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson James Ross said the review is “long overdue”.

“The Reserve Bank pumped far too much money into the economy. The result was a surge in asset prices and the kind of inflation that has hammered households ever since.”

“When the Bank finally realised it had let the inflation genie out of the bottle, it responded with sharp rises in the Official Cash Rate. That response tipped the economy into recession: a recession the former Governor, Adrian Orr, quite publicly said was necessary.”

“But the downturn has been deeper and longer than even he appears to have anticipated.”

“A searching investigation into how the Reserve Bank assessed the situation, and how it reached its decisions, is desperately needed. The review must examine the apparent lack of coordination between monetary and fiscal policy, and recommend corrective action.”

“It also needs to scrutinise the Bank’s use of ‘alternative’ tools, including the scale, timing, and duration of those interventions.”

“The Bank brutalised the New Zealand economy to correct its own mistakes. New Zealanders are still living with the consequences of the worst Bank-induced recession in more than thirty years.”

“This cannot be a once-over-lightly desktop exercise. It must be a forensic examination that produces a practical blueprint to prevent a repeat of this economic disaster. The public deserve nothing less.”

“The review should also have the full legal powers of a government inquiry. Decision makers should be required to give evidence under oath and in public. These decisions had major, real-world impacts on New Zealanders’ lives, and transparency demands it.”

The Taxpayers’ Union says Labour can scarcely believe its luck with the Government’s insistence that its proposed levy on electricity bills isn’t a tax because it’s a levy.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams said:

“We’ve been fielding calls and interview requests all day from people wanting to know whether we consider a levy a tax. The definition of a levy is literally ‘the act of imposing a tax, charge, or fine’. This isn’t complicated.”

“The last Prime Minister to try this line was Jacinda Ardern, who desperately wanted her clean car emissions levy not to be called what National quite rightly branded it at the time: the ute tax. Watching National now recycle Labour’s talking points is both ironic and alarming.”

Williams said while the case for improving energy security and addressing dry-year risk is legitimate, the decision to fund an LNG terminal through a compulsory charge on electricity bills was a political and policy blunder.

“This Government campaigned relentlessly on ‘no new taxes’, and warns voters that Labour and its Green and Te Pāti Māori partners would hike costs. Then it turns around and announces a new charge on one of the most sensitive household bills in the country. You don’t need a focus group to know how that lands.”

“There are clear alternatives. The Government could recycle a small portion of the $14 billion of energy assets it already owns and ring-fence the proceeds to fix the energy mess Labour left behind. Labour would struggle to criticise asset recycling when the money is used to stabilise supply and lower prices. Instead, National has chosen to tax power bills and argue about definitions.”

Williams warned that if the Government doesn’t change course, it risks undermining its core election message just months out from polling day.

“This is an unforced error. The LNG facility is defensible. Funding it through a levy on electricity is not. If National wants to keep its credibility on tax and not hand Labour a stick to whack back with, Mr Luxon should ditch the levy and insist his Ministers find another way to pay.”

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is backing Federated Farmers’ alarm over draft resource management legislation that could open the door to effectively enabling a tax on water by stealth.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Tory Relf says:

“This is exactly the kind of slippery, backdoor taxing power taxpayers have every right to be worried about. If the Government wants to fix planning laws, it should do so transparently, not sneak in the ability to tax water through future Ministerial decree.”

“Freshwater is already heavily regulated. Giving Ministers sweeping powers to auction rights or impose levies is not reform, it’s a blank cheque for future Governments to treat water as a cash cow.”

“Make no mistake: a water tax doesn’t just hit farmers. It flows straight through to higher food prices, higher costs for exporters, and higher bills for every New Zealander.”

“The whole point of replacing the Resource Management Act was to cut bureaucracy and restore property rights. Provisions like those allowing freshwater being auctioned, tendered, or levied undermine that promise and will only create more uncertainty, more compliance costs, and more distrust.”

“The Government must urgently clarify its intentions and scrap any clauses that allow freshwater rights to be effectively taxed. Kiwis were promised reform, not a new stealth tax.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to clarify media reports that he has struck a backroom deal with Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to exempt the Super City from the rates cap.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Tory Relf said:

“Any backroom deals between the Prime Minister and the Mayor of Auckland would totally undermine what is already a watered-down policy.”

“As it stands, the Government’s so-called rates cap is more accurately described as a ban on rates freezes. And with implementation delayed until 2029, councils have another three years to jack up rates and set a high baseline for future rate hikes. All the cards are already being laid in councils’ favour.”

“As the Rates Cap Savings Dashboard shows, a two percent rates cap would have saved the average Auckland family $442 over the last three years, and that’s what the PM is signing away.”

“Exempting stormwater in Auckland would render a cap in the Super City meaningless. The Prime Minister needs to explain if he’s sabotaging his own Government’s policy, and if he intends to do the same for other councils across the country.”

Responding to today’s reporting that Minister Willis expects the current rise in inflation to be "a blip", Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson Tory Relf said:

“Minister Willis is sounding a lot like former US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who dismissed rising inflation under the Biden administration and got it completely wrong. Minister Willis’ claim that the increase is mainly due to international factors downplays the domestic pressures her Government can actually influence.”

“As Kiwibank recently noted, it is the heat in domestic inflation that is most disappointing. High electricity prices driven by a cosy power sector oligopoly, and grossly excessive local government rate rises are major contributors. The Government knows this, but its responses have been ineffective or delayed.”

“The Government’s excessive spending is also adding fuel to the fire. Continuous borrowing is building a mounting debt pile, with Total Crown borrowing now nearly $2 billion a month. Financial markets are already signalling expectations that the Reserve Bank may need to bring forward interest rate hikes later this year. Mortgage rates have already started rising on that basis, and economist Brad Olsen has speculated the Reserve Bank could even lift rates as soon as May.”

“Budget 2026 is Minister Willis’ last real chance to show spending restraint. Continued failure to rein in government spending will cement a record of fiscal ill-discipline. Claims of a surplus at the end of every forecast period will keep losing credibility, and international credit ratings agencies will take notice.”

Political parties often engage musicians to drum up support during the election season. It’s the time of year when party hacks attempt to swell their numbers by using musicians as Trojan Horses for their political ideals. We all remember The Feelers’ song used in National Party adverts last election.

But what happens when taxpayer funds are propping up these artists?

The Party, Party put on by the Internet Party features numerous bands that have recently received significant grants of taxpayers’ money courtesy of NZ On Air.

Sons of Zion, State of Mind and PNC all received subsidies from NZ On Air as recently as late last year. The sums involved are not insignificant. A quick glance at the list of subsidies suggests that in the past few years these acts have received well over $200,000 of taxpayer funds.

Laughton Kora of L.A.B was also part of a group that received $245,000 NZ On Air funding to visit prisons for a Maori TV programme. 

While we can all appreciate that bands are comprised of individuals with their own political beliefs, it seems wrong for bands to be enabled to support a political cause by being propped up by the taxpayer.