This week we farewell the CEO of Wellington Water, reveal the latest extravagant taxpayer-funded party(s), expose the Ministry of Education's wayward priorities, and share our exclusive intel collected from the National Party's conference... We will also give you an update on the Government's unwinding of Labour's Three Waters policy.

Film Commission partying away taxpayer money 💸🎈

Government adopts key aspects of Taxpayers' Union Three Waters alternative 💦💦💦

On Thursday, the Government released the latest update in its Three Waters reforms and it's good news, Friend. 

The relentless advocacy, campaigning, policy work and legal drafting is finally paying off.

The Three Waters replacement will include many of they key principles and proposals of our alternative we spent the last two years developing.

Our Economist, Ray Deacon, wrote about the latest updates in an opinion piece for Wellington's The Post published on Friday:

Decades of poor asset management, combined with the tendency of councils to raid money intended for things people can’t see, like pipes, to fund the politically expedient things people can see like convention centres and town halls, have led to the situation we find ourselves in today...

Yesterday’s announcement from the Government is a lifeline for New Zealand’s water infrastructure. It incorporates many of the proposals from the Taxpayers’ Union’s technical advisory group.

I was part of that group. Joined by a team of experienced experts in infrastructure, local government, and economics, we set out to develop comprehensive legislative drafting instructions for a future Government to pick up.

Continue reading over at The Post.

Key points from Thursday's announcement: 

• Councils, jointly or individually, are able to set up council-controlled organisations (CCOs) with ring-fenced revenue for water infrastructure (so it can't be used to hide stealth rates increases to fund pet projects as some councils currently do). 

• CCOs can borrow for long-term investment in core infrastructure with that cost more fairly shared across all users over the infrastructure's lifetime, rather than lumped on the ratepayers of today – or worse, using borrowed money for day-to-day wasteful spending (or not undertaking the capital work at all).

• Drinking water safety and quality will continue to be regulated by the new water regulator, addressing the core issue that caused the Havelock North water crisis back in 2016.

• Small shared domestic water schemes will be exempted from the regulations preventing them from being required to deal with the same level of expensive red tape as our largest cities. This is a huge win. Under the current rules, farmers connecting just two dwellings (such as a farmhouse and shearers quarters) were to be regulated like a town-supply utility!

• The regulator must consider the costs imposed on suppliers before imposing ineffective or impractical regulation where the cost far exceeds the benefits, preventing engineers from being totally risk adverse or gold-plating (no matter the costs).

• Economic regulation, enforced by the Commerce Commission, will require CCOs to publicly produce economic, service performance, and management data, ensuring they are properly managing their assets and future investment. This is standard around the world and is already in place for electricity lines companies.

As Ray summed it up:

Our solutions to the nation’s water woes focused on tackling the core issues rather than using the reforms as a Trojan horse for pushing ideological changes – namely, expanding co-governance and centralising control, as the previous Government did.

Friend, all of this work was made possible thanks to the thousands of our supporters who backed the Taxpayers' Union against all odds to first stop, and then scrap, Three Waters.

We were up against what, at face-value, was an unwinnable battle: A single party majority Labour Government, a media unwilling to report fairly on Three Waters, an opposition unwilling to be vocal and a multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign to scare the public into supporting their proposals. 

But with people power, grassroots activism, roadshows, TV and newspaper ads and hundreds upon hundreds of banners we slowly turned the tide and won convincingly. Take a bow Friend.

Wellington Water boss quits 👋

The same day as the Government's Three Water's announcement, Wellington Water's Chief Executive, Tonia Haskell announced her resignation – effective the very next day.

Credit where it's due for Ms Haskell for falling on her sword following the organisation's incredibly poor (and expensive) performance.

Wellington Water recently admitted overlooking a budget error, forcing ratepayers to fork out an additional $51 million to plug the holes. 

Earlier in the year, a damning report highlighted the skyrocketing costs of fixing the city's leaks, and over the summer ratepayers were forced onto water restrictions as the region was losing almost half of its drinking water to leaks.

A serious shakeup is needed at Wellington Water. The Board must work quickly to find a strong replacement who is able to bang the right heads together and get things done. 

A similar approach would be useful in central government too...

Time to pull the plug on taxpayer-funded EV chargers 🔌

Last week, Rhys, one of our young researchers, uncovered that the Ministry of Education is pumping millions of dollars into taxpayer-funded EV chargers for their staff. Since 2022, they have spent almost $2.2 million on 297 chargers, only four of which are on properties owned by the taxpayer. For the avoidance of doubt, this isn't car chargers at schools, it's mostly chargers at offices and carparks that aren't even owned by the Ministry.

There’s not even any environmental benefit either. As I explain here, these policies don’t make a dent in emissions.

If government departments were wasting taxpayers’ money installing petrol pumps in their basements it would rightly be called ridiculous. Paying millions to install EV charging points is no different, except it comes with a hefty sprinkle of middle-class welfare for Wellington bureaucrats plugging in their Teslas.

This $2.2 million is just one Ministry’s contribution. Other departments are almost certainly at it too, on top of the tens of millions already splurged on public EV chargers by EECA.

The Ministry needs to use every cent to fix our broken education system. It’s time to pull the plug on this nonsense. 

>>> Pull the plug on taxpayer-funded EV chargers <<<

So while it's open-season when it's taxpayer money, when politicians are spending their own money the story is slightly different...

Frosty reception at the National Party conference 🥶

Earlier this month, the National Party had their annual conference in Auckland.

We're always keen to keep our ears close to the ground, and picked up a scoop or two – but when one of our staffers in attendance reported one little thing he overheard, we couldn’t help but laugh.

Conference-goers had a frosty reception when the National Party apparently refused to put the heating on, saying it would cost the party too much money!

This from the same people running a government spending programme which is spending even more than Grant Robertson was!

So now we know, politicians can indeed be frugal – at least when it’s their money they’re having to spend, not that taken from hardworking taxpayers…

Now take that approach to Wellington please.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with National MP for Napier, Katie Nimon🎙️🎧

So while the National Party get-togethers may be frosty, that doesn't mean their MPs are. This week on Taxpayer Talk, I sat down with National's Katie Nimon – a rising star and local MP from my home patch in Napier.

Katie was elected as the MP for the Napier electorate at the 2023 General Election, winning back the seat that had been held by Labour's Stuart Nash since 2014.

Katie's maiden speech stood out to the Taxpayers' Union staff as she was one of the very few MPs to mention an economist, in her case Adam Smith. 

Born and raised in Hawke's Bay, Katie has had experience working in, and eventually running, the iconic family bus company Nimon and Son before becoming the transport manager at the regional council.

A passionate advocate for her region, Katie shares her story before politics, what drives her and why she wanted to become an MP. 

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

Enjoy the week ahead.

Connor Molloy Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media Mentions:

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Are we being too hard on the C2 500 crew?

The Post A lifeline for New Zealand’s failing infrastructure

The Post Auckland mayor’s plan to ‘dethrone’ errant Auckland Transport

Kiwiblog Why I have resigned from the Research Association of New Zealand

RNZ Mediawatch for 11 August 2024 [16:34]

Media releases:

Fun Police Need To Stay In Their Lane

TVNZ Must Be Sold Before It’s Too Late

TVNZ’s $1.5M Rebrand A Smokescreen For Poor Performance And Declining Trust

Time To Pull The Plug On EV Charging Rort

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes Progress On Three Waters Replacement

Nicola Willis Promises To Tackle Bureaucrats’ Rocketing Wage Growth

Second Aratere Ferry Incident Highlights Need To Sell Interislander

Government Wasted $2.2 Million On Ministry Of Education’s EV Chargers, Needs Lessons In Climate Policy

EXPOSED: Taxpayers continuing to fund "white privilege workshops" for MBIE mandarins 🚫🤦🏻‍♀️

Do you remember when the new Government insisted they were going through departmental spending line-by-line?

Well someone should have gone to Specsavers if our latest waste exposé is anything to go by.

On Sunday, your humble Taxpayers' Union blew the whistle that Government departments continue to splurge money on [checks notes] "white privilege" workshops for bureaucrats and government contractors.

Earlier this year, we got a tipoff that MBIE had spent $650,000 on these workshops over the past four years, and this story is just what we've uncovered so far.

As splashed in the Sunday Star Times:

MBIE says the workshops help staff address unconscious bias which helps them better serve NZ but the Taxpayers’ Union says it’s “wasteful spending”.

Almost $22,000 has already been spent so far this year on nine different sessions. Five more are booked in.

The Taxpayers’ Union said the workshops needed to be “on the chopping block” and every government department needed to look at its “wasteful spending”.

"Workshopping for government departments with more money than sense has fast become a mega-industry, with organisations, no one has ever heard of being bunged hundreds of thousands of dollars from the taxpayer year after year,“ said James Ross, policy and public affairs manager for the Taxpayers’ Union.

Figures released under the Official Information Act show since 2020, MBIE has contracted The Wall Walk and Courageous Conversations for 58 workshops run across the country for its staff. The Star-Times requested the contracts but were denied their release because it would have taken too much work to compile.

The Wall Walk is run by criminologist Dr Simone Bull (Ngāti Porou) and is described on its website as part theatre, part study, part kōrero and is designed to “raise collective awareness of key events in the history of New Zealand”.

Its sessions cost between $529.87 and $7105.45 - the majority of the sessions were less than $5000.

Bull said she couldn’t speak to procurement processes but her workshop was unique.

“It’s not possible for any agency or business to get multiple providers to tender for a unique service,” she said.

“I like to think that it’s popular because generations of people who call Aotearoa New Zealand home want to know about our country’s history (including the policies that were introduced and why) but were never taught it and the way we teach it is designed to uphold the mana or dignity of the people involved and their descendants.”

Courageous Conversations is run by South Pacific Institutes and its website says its mission is grounded in Te Tiriti and aims to “elevate racial consciousness through interracial dialogue”. Its most frequently contracted workshop to MBIE is called ‘Beyond Diversity’.

And sadly, the Minister is nowhere to be seen...

Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee is responsible for MBIE and said the workshops were an operational decision and the ministry had a responsibility to support its staff who are from a diverse range of backgrounds.

And it's not just MBIE. Our research team has so far uncovered 19 other government agencies that have also been spending taxpayer money on these workshops, pumping thousands of bureaucrats through these courses. The Sunday Star Times continues:

At least 19 other public agencies - including police, ESR, MPI, the Commerce Commission, the Retirement Commission and Cancer Control Agency - have references in recent publications to providing the workshops. Most include it under their cultural or diversity plans.

The Taxpayers’ Union said MBIE was just the “tip of the iceberg”.

“Bureaucrats across government need to front up on the scale of this rort and let the public decide for themselves what they think of their hard-earned money being spent like this,” said Ross.

The Ministry of Education began offering the Beyond Diversity workshops to its staff since 2018 but was criticised for it in 2021 by National and ACT when they were in opposition.

Then National leader Judith Collins said officials were being taught “to feel guilty” about being white and ACT leader David Seymour called the “white privilege” workshops “entirely inappropriate”.

Internal emails from the time show Secretary for Education Iona Holsted had the expectation that all staff undertook the training.

Continue reading over on the Stuff.co.nz.

We say forcing government staff to take off the better part of the day to calculate their 'white privilege score' is not a good use of taxpayer money. 

If you agree, drop a note to Melissa Lee (the Minister responsible for MBIE) and ask her to tell officials to put a stop to this nonsense.

TVNZ's $1.5 million rebrand a smokescreen for poor performance ✨🪩

Last week we revealed that taxpayer-owned broadcaster, TVNZ, wasted $1.5 million rebranding their online streaming platform from 'TVNZ on Demand' to 'TVNZ+'.

No prizes for guessing why they're expecting a $28 million loss this year...

This extravagant expenditure comes at a time when TVNZ is plagued by poor management, declining revenue, and a growing mistrust among viewers.

With people increasingly getting their news from other sources, available instantly thanks to the internet, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify state ownership of TVNZ. We should sell it – if we're lucky, it might still be worth something. 

If you haven't yet signed our petition to sell TVNZ, please add your name so we can ramp up the pressure on the Government to act before it's too late.

Forced to choose between continuing to prop up the John Campbells and Maiki Shermans of this world or paying down debt and delivering meaningful tax relief, I know what I'd choose...

Tax 'relief' giving with one hand, taking with the other 💸🤫

Councils must set, and achieve, savings targets 🎯✅

And it's not just the Government that needs to do a better job of ensuring Kiwis can keep more of what they earn.

With households and businesses across the country tightening their belts and finding ways to do more with less, it's time councils did the same.

With average rates hikes of more than 15%, many ratepayers are at risk of being forced to sell or remortgage their homes just to pay the bills. 

When the Government came into power, they demanded 6.5-7.5% savings from almost every department  – it's great to see them finally urging local councils to do the same.  

We recently also wrote to every Mayor and council asking them what efforts they are making to cut back on costs and whether they have set savings targets to keep rates under control. Unfortunately, the responses we've received have been underwhelming, to say the least. We'll report back once we have all of the council's responses.

Hastings District Council pays $1m for a building. Sells it for $150k two years later 🏗️🤯

Cutting back on wasteful spending in local councils doesn't mean reducing core services. Axing the silly and incompetent spending will go a long way to balancing the books in the first instance. 

At my hometown council in Hastings, one doesn't have to look far. The Council bought a building just two years ago for $1 million, now they've decided to sell it for a mere $150,000.

No private individual or business would make such a wasteful "investment". If you need any more evidence that nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as they spend their own, look no further than Hastings. 

I wrote to the Mayor, and every Councillor, demanding an explanation. What I got back from the Mayor was some carefully crafted PR spin that avoided many of the questions asked. Not a single councillor responded – we have heard from our well-placed sources that councillors were instructed by officials not to respond to the questions posed by the Taxpayers' Union!

This isn't local democracy nor is it accountability. And this certainly won't be the last Hastings District hear from us about it. 

You can read my letter here and judge for yourself whether the Council's response is a good faith attempt to answer my questions here.

Report waste at *your* local council👮🔬

Many of our best government and local government waste stories come directly from supporters like you, or from those with their boots on the ground working in the 'belly of the beast' as elected representatives or council officials. 

If you are aware of waste at your local council that could use some sunlight exposure, please report it via our confidential tipline and our team will investigate and expose it.

🔎 >>> REPORT WASTE HERE <<< 🔎

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with NZ First MP, and former Wellington Mayor, Andy Foster🎙️🎧

This week on Taxpayer Talk, I sat down with New Zealand First MP, Andy Foster.

Andy is a former mayor of Wellington and also served nine terms as councillor making him one of New Zealand's most experienced local government politicians. In 2023 he was elected to Parliament on the New Zealand First Party list. Earlier in his career, he also worked in investment finance, taught economics, and was even a parliamentary researcher for the National Party.

Andy explains what drew him to local and then central government politics, why he shifted from National to New Zealand first and what he wants to achieve during his time as an MP. 

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

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Connor Molloy Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media Mentions:

RNZ Mediawatch for 28 July 2024 [25:46]

Interest.co.nz The Coalition has delivered on its promise to cut taxes without extra borrowing but still needs to convince voters it won’t come at the cost of frontline staff

Pacific Mornings 531pi Richard Pamatatau, Political Commentator [9:16]

Greymouth Star Westcoast Rates Compared [Print only]

The Spinoff Get ready, your much-hyped tax cut is almost here

Rural News Out of control

Newstalk ZB Jordan Williams: Taxpayers' Union Executive Director on the Film Commission spending over $16,400 on celebrations

NZ Herald NZ Film Commission spends $16,431 on CEO parties amid budget cuts

Interest.co.nz Nicola Willis says she will use fiscal drag to help pay down public debt, despite calling it a flaw in the tax system

Rural News Full-Court Press

NZ Herald Government wants ‘line-by-line’ review of council spending and floats asset sales

NZ Herald Rethink needed on council funding - Nick Clark

Manawatu Standard Nothing slushy about support for Manawatū events

NZ Herald National Party Conference: party president Sylvia Wood sets goal of mid-40s in the polls

The Post Christopher Luxon returns to the National Party faithful

Sunday Star Times Government still spending thousands on ‘white privilege’ workshops

Tax 'relief' this week (if you can call it that)

No doubt the big story the Government will want the media focus on this week is their tax reductions finally coming into force. 

But sadly, it's not really tax relief when New Zealanders are still paying a higher average rate of tax than under the early years of Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson.

Thanks to the failure to adjust tax brackets for inflation since 2010, Kiwis have been forced into higher and higher tax brackets – even when earnings haven't changed in "real" (inflation-adjusted) terms. This is called "bracket creep" or "fiscal drag".

It has meant, for the average Kiwi worker, they're paying $49 per week more in tax, despite being no better off.

$49 is what Nicola Willis needed to deliver for the average worker. Unfortunately she is shortchanging New Zealanders giving them less than half of what is needed to make up for 14 years of stealth tax hikes.

So while this week's changes are welcome, the Government must go a lot further and faster to cut wasteful spending and deliver more meaningful tax relief. 

Yet another failed mega-merger 🏥💸

Remember when the Labour Government decided to centralise the health system into a bureaucratic monolith in the middle of a pandemic?

Well it won't come as a surprise to anyone after seeing the boondoggles with the centralisation of our polytechnics and the attempted Three Waters power grab that the new health mega-bureaucracy is burning money at a rate of knots.

Overspending by $130 million every month, Health NZ was on track for a $1.4 billion deficit – $700 for every household in the country. 

Despite the billions spent, and 3000 extra backroom paper pushers hired, health outcomes continued to decline and report after report slammed the bureaucratic mess the Government had created.

Rather than sitting on his hands, credit must be given to Health Minister Shane Reti for sacking the Board and putting in a commissioner to sort out the agency's finances and turn its performance around. 

And it's not just central government bleeding cash... 

Ratepayers fork out for 'Rebel Business School' rort 🕴️

If you're wondering what your council is spending money on that necessitates a double digit rates hike, you may want to check if they're funding the 'Rebel Business School'. 

What sounds like a formidable educational institution to teach people how to run a business is drenched in controversy. Their 10-day unaccredited course has optional attendance for "graduates" and has consistently failed to meet delivery and attendance targets.

Taking money from productive businesses through higher rates, only to give it to (and this is a generous description in the circumstances) a "pop-up business creche" is not how you create a vibrant local economy. 

Even Christchurch City Council's economic development wing is questioning the group's value, and has withdrawn funding "due to delivery targets not being met." Other councils should follow suit.

Auckland Council spent $280,000 on this grift, Napier City Council spent $29,000 and taxpayers have stumped up more than $1.35 million! Rather than pay for "optional attendance" qualifications certificate printing, councils and government would have been better off slashing red tape that makes just getting a business off the ground such a bureaucratic nightmare in the first place.

Check if your council is funding these grifters here.

With councils seemingly desperate to spend ratepayer money on anything except core business, one MP has decided to do something about it. 

MP wants to stop councils from considering emissions in consenting 💰🔥 

Sick of seeing councils waste millions of dollars on unsuccessfully trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ACT MP and farmer Mark Cameron has told councils to 'get in behind'.

Mr Cameron has lodged a Member's Bill that would force councils to stop considering emissions (which is a central, not local government responsibility) when making consenting decisions.

The Taxpayers' Union support the Bill as it rightly recognises that reducing emissions is the role of central government and, due to how our Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) works, almost anything councils do in the climate change space is completely pointless (see below).

The ETS sets a fixed cap on the amount of emissions that can occur each year. This cap is based on the total amount of emissions (from things like car exhausts) minus any removals (such as from forestry). If one council decides to block the consent on a new factory because it would be powered using a coal boiler, that simply means someone else can emit more instead. I explain this in more detail here. 

Speaking of getting councils back under control...

No, 1News, referendums are not a 'legal loophole' 🤯🔦

In some sad news following the Tauranga election that one of the newly elected councillors was undergoing medical treatment at the hospital, one reporter decided to insert anti-democracy propaganda into the story.

The reporter stated that the ability for local residents to petition against and hold a referendum on the introduction of a Māori Ward was a 'legal loophole'. This implies that a technicality in the law allowed this to happen and that it wasn't intended – that's simply not the case.

In fact, it was explicitly written in the law before Nanaia Mahuta hijacked local decision-making and removed the ability for local communities to decide their own electoral arrangements. 

This biased and misleading reporting is exactly why people are losing trust in the media. To top things off, here's what was written in small text at the very bottom of the story: 

"LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air"

Seriously, taxpayers are the ones paying for this drivel. 

Fortunately, the new Government is in the process of restoring local democracy – watch my tussle with Willie Jackson on the matter here.  

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth with Dana Kirkpatrick🎙️🎧

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Connor sat down with National Party MP for the East Coast, Dana Kirkpatrick. 

Dana defines herself as staunchly East Coast, having been born and raised in Gisborne. She comes from a farming family, has worked in journalism, local government, and the health sector, and has previously been involved with a number of community organisations.

Dana shares what drove her to become an MP, what she hopes to achieve during her time in Parliament, and gives an insight into what she enjoys doing outside of politics, namely gardening. 

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

That's it for this week.

Thank you for your continued support. 

Connor Molloy Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media Mentions:

Newstalk ZB Capital Letter: NZ Herald's Georgina Campbell on Interislander poll, further bullying allegations

Chris Lynch Media Inflation Drops to 3.3% in July, but what does that mean for cost of living crisis?

The Leighton Smith Podcast Jordan Williams of the NZ Taxpayer's Union argues the benefits of Estonia's tax regime

Newstalk ZB The councils with the highest rates rises, and why

The Platform Michael Laws Questions Māori Influence in Local Government Decisions [1:57]

Sunday Star Times Inside the Beehive: 10 minutes with Casey Costello

Kiwiblog Who is hiking rates the most

Stuff Rates more than double over 10 years

Newstalk ZB The Huddle: Do we need regulations for PayWave fees?

Hansard Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill — Second Reading

RNZ Interislander: More opposition than support for ferry project cancellation, poll finds

The Press The Press letters to the editor: Thursday July 25

Kiwiblog Guest Post: Economics 101 for RadioNZ, Guyon Espiner and Professors Janet Hoek and Chris Bullen

Bassett, Brash & Hide PETER WILLLIAMS: The costs of Te Mana o te Wai are worse than we thought

National is technically holding to its promise not to hike fuel taxes this term, but they're making it costly! First, they now plan a staggering hike to fuel tax and Road User Charges in 2027 that makes up for the 'pause'. Rather than paying less, motorists simply get more time until they pay a lot more.

But that's not the worse thing. Under this draft plan, from next year, the annual cost of vehicle registration will shoot up $25 from January 2025, and another $25 in January 2026.

The best way to find more funding for roads is to ensure that all money already paid in road user charges and fuel excises is spent on roads – not political pet projects like walking and cycling.

For new roads, other financing tools should be used such as tolling so that those who want the benefit of faster and better roads pay while those who live elsewhere or want to use the old road can continue to do so.

The Government can crow about tax relief (in this case "pausing" hikes to fuel taxes) but New Zealanders know it when politicians give with one hand only to grab with another. Sadly, that's the case here.

Thousands of New Zealanders tell Nicola Willis to Scrap the App Tax 📵

Less than a week since we (re)launched National's pre-election campaign to Scrap the App tax – a promise now broken by Nicola Willis – more than 4,000 New Zealanders have taken 30 seconds to send an email using our easy tool at www.AppTax.nz

And we know the Government has taken notice. Have a listen to Nicola Willis on Newstalk ZB discussing the thousands of emails she has received and admitting the policy U-turn:

Ms Willis claims that the App Tax had to be "sacrificed at the altar of coalition government". If that's the case, she needs to let taxpayers know which coalition partner vetoed it.

Your humble Taxpayers' Union has been back through the coalition agreements and they don't quite support Ms Willis's claim. In fact, both partners specifically commit to supporting National's Fiscal Plan which [double checking] on page 8 includes scrapping the App Tax.

We can't let Nicola Willis fall at the first hurdle to de-couple New Zealand from Labour's tax and spend approach. Click here to send Nicola Willis a message asking her to stick to her word.

Busting myths on Labour's National's App Tax 🔨

Myth 👻 The App Tax hits the big multinational app companies like Uber, Airbnb and Bookabach who don't currently pay GST.

Fact 💁‍♂️ These companies already pay GST on their slice of the revenue, this tax will fall on the little guy providing the service, such as the Uber driver or Airbnb host, and will ultimately be paid for by you in the form of higher prices.

Myth 👻 The App Tax is levelling the playing field to ensure that businesses are taxed equally.

Fact 💁‍♂️ All businesses, including Uber Drivers and Airbnb hosts, are currently required to pay GST if they earn more than $60,000, if any business earns less they are exempt. The App Tax will unfairly punish drivers and hosts who earn less than $60,000 purely because they use an app to find customers. 

Myth 👻 People who don't use app-based services like Uber and Airbnb won't be affected by the App Tax.

Fact 💁‍♂️ Competition keeps prices lower for consumers. If apps like Uber and Airbnb are forced to hike their prices, traditional taxis, accommodation providers and food delivery services can put their prices up too!

If you share our view that the Government should be cutting wasteful spending to fund tax relief and not hiking up taxes they promised to scrap, send Nicola Willis an email by clicking here.

Taxpayers paying twice: Luxon accommodation allowance 🏠

There's no doubt that Christopher Luxon's decision to take a $52,000 accommodation allowance despite already owning a property in Wellington was a bit of an own goal. 

As shown by the latest poll (see above) it was a wise move for the PM to quickly walk back his decision.

Here at the Taxpayers' Union, we say taxpayers shouldn't have to pay twice: We pay for a premier house for the PM to live in. If it's not up to snuff to live in and host dignitaries, the solution isn't to pay for the PM to live elsewhere, the solution is to fix Premier House.

Now clearly if an upgrade to Premier House was lining taps with gold, or spending $531 on a toilet brush, we'd be the first to call it out! But even as taxpayer watchdogs, we accept that the PM's digs shouldn't be a national embarrassment. However, it is simply not credible an upgrade needs to cost $30 million.

We've now had five Prime Ministers say this place isn't up to scratch, and now we've even got the Australian Cricket Team laughing at us.

Instead of taking his allowance and living elsewhere, we say Christopher Luxon needs to take the initiative and spend what is necessary to get Premier House back up to a presentable standard.

Jordan spoke to One News about Mr Luxon taking the accommodation entitlement (this was prior to him saying he would pay it back). You can also read our statement to the media here.

Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth Series: Laura Trask 🎙

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Ollie sat down with ACT Party MP Laura Trask.

Laura is one of eleven ACT MPs elected at the 2023 General Election. Prior to entering Parliament, Laura worked as a pharmacy technician and in the health and safety industry. She discusses her career in helping people navigate bureaucratic red tape and her desire to make it easier for people to live their lives and do business.

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

Other News in Brief ⏰

• Following reports that New Plymouth District Council was creating a new ratepayer-funded job to respond to official information requests, we encouraged them to save money by proactively releasing more information online themselves, removing the need for people to ask for the information in the first place – a practice that is common in other countries.
• We urged Masterton District Council to find more ratepayer-friendly options for community spaces rather than pumping $49 million into repairs on the doomed town hall. 
• We welcomed the Government slashing red tape for major infrastructure projects but stressed the importance of a creating a more comprehensive repeal and replacement of the bureaucratic resource management laws as soon as possible.
• We also slammed the economic vandalism of James Shaw for suggesting that consents granted under this new regime could be revoked without compensation under a future government his party is a part of. James Shaw should be ashamed.

That's it for this week, 

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Head of Campaigns New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media Mentions:

RNZ PM Luxon claiming $52,000 accommodation supplement

1 News midday Chris Luxon collects taxpayer-funded accommodation expenses [TV only]

RNZ The Panel with Jo McCarroll and David Farrar (Part 2)

1 News at 6pm Luxon accommodation expenses

Newstalk ZB Morning Edition: 02 March 2024 (Luxon no longer claiming expenses) (1:20)

Newsroom When you hear the people sing

Newstalk ZB Nicola Willis: Finance Minister warns surplus deadline won't be reached

Press Releases

Greens’ Threat Straight Out Of Trump’s Playbook

Coalition Sticking Plasters Over New Zealand’s Infrastructure Crisis

Taxpayers’ Union Urges Masterton District Council To Prioritise Ratepayers Over Legacy Projects

Councils Can Save Money On LGOIMA Responses By Being More Transparent

Taxpayers’ Union Supports Wayne Brown’s Call For Rates On Government Buildings

Nicola Willis Needs To Explain Which Coalition Partner Vetoed Reversing The App Tax

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes Scrapping Of Ineffective Road To Zero Campaign

Taxpayers’ Union Welcomes Draft Transport GPS, Warns Against Overzealous Tax Hikes

Scrap The App Tax: More Than 3,300 Taxpayers Contacted Nicola Willis Over The Weekend

Bigger Is Not Better Or More Efficient When It Comes To Local Councils

Taxpayers’ Union (Re)Launches National Party’s Campaign To Scrap The App Tax

As you'll see that while many politicians (and just about all the Wellington bureaucrats!) are enjoying long holidays, our team are back at work exposing waste, fighting for more more taxpayer victories, and promoting sensible improvements for how your money is spent.

Thousands of Brand New State Houses Sitting Empty 🏠🔥

Despite the state housing waitlist being more than 30,000 people long, thousands of brand new state houses have been sitting empty, some for months at a time. Taxpayers spent millions on building and purchasing these properties, so they should be filled rather than left to collect dust.

Of course, the wider issue is the state of bureaucratic regulation in the housing sector that effectively makes it illegal to build a cheap house. The chaotic mess of red tape creates unworkable, unnecessary and ineffective restrictions on building and renting homes. This drives up the costs of housing and forces people onto that waitlist.

It is clear that big and centralised government is not good at getting people into affordable housing. It is a scandal that for a country with a small population, and plenty of land, housing is among the most expensive in the world.

The new government has talked a good talk on cutting red tape and simplifying our planning laws such as the Resource Management Act. This year, one of our major focuses will be on ensuring they follow through. New Zealand cannot afford another generation without access to affordable housing, both for renters, and those who want to build or buy.

In terms of social housing, rather than trying, yet again, to fix Kāinga Ora and its centralised model, we say the Government should be focused at enabling (including funding) local community groups to provide both high quality housing and social services as they are likely to deliver far better value for the taxpayer long term. 

Because empty houses is not the only failure happening at Kāinga Ora...

Kāinga Ora's $2 Million Cost Blowout on Ridiculous Housing Project 🚧🧱

You would think that, to the extent to which central government should be responsible for building houses, they would actually build them in areas where they are most needed and have appropriate social services nearby. Think again...

On Thursday, we called out a cost blowout on a state housing development that shows everything wrong with Kāinga Ora. The development which would create 44 residential houses in Ohakune was originally intended to cost $5.2 million but has since blown out by 44% to $7.5 million. This supposedly post-COVID lockdown 'shovel-ready' project has been in the pipeline since 2020 yet four years later we are yet to see a single shovel hit dirt!

The cost blowout comes as no surprise given the Auditor-General slammed the 'shovel ready' slush fund for its poor decision making and continuous wastage of taxpayer money.

There are countless reasons why this project should never have been approved in the first place. For a start, approving a 44-house development in a small town where there are only 11 families in Ohakune on the housing waitlist, is questionable when thousands of people remain in taxpayer funded hotels temporary housing across the country. Surely a development of this scale should go where it is most needed?

To make things worse, Ohakune has virtually no social services and no local GP so the wrap-around services that will be needed for some of these families will simply not be available. 

The funding for this project was originally tuned down twice due to its unviability with one of the early due diligence reports deeming it a "no go". But when COVID came along, the bureaucrats hit 'go' anyway.

It is clear that things are seriously bad at Kāinga Ora. We understand that the new Minister, Chris Bishop, has written to them outlining his expectations but if things don't turn around soon, the Board will be sacked. Good.

The Taxpayer-friendly "Disinformation Project": Stop Bureaucrats from Describing Taxpayer-Funded Services as 'Free' 🇦🇷🤥

Join the call for honesty by signing the petition here.

Auckland Dominion Road Trams Scrapped – Saving $15,000 per Household 🚆✖️

This week we also celebrated the Government finally pulling the plug on Auckland Tramway, sorry, "Light Rail", which saw hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money wasted with absolutely nothing to show for it.

Since its inception, the tramway has racked up a near quarter of a billion-dollar bill in consultant fees and building purchases, yet in all that time we still didn't see a single metre of track being laid!

In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, there was simply no justification for the Government to continue reaching deeper into Kiwis pockets, especially when the budget was only continuing to skyrocket. Advice to the Minister showed costs could reach as high as $29.2 billion, or $15,000 for every household in the country!

This is a necessary first step from the Government in what we hope will be further moves to tighten its belt and cut back on wasteful pipe-dream projects. But if the new coalition is really serious about slashing waste, it needs to address another glaring problem, which is how these non-roading initiatives continue to raid the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF).

We’ve long called for the NLTF, which is funded by fuel taxes and road user charges, to go back to funding exclusively  what it is actually meant for: roading infrastructure. We're calling on the Government to properly ring-fence the fund, and ensures it does not continue to be pillaged for projects irrelevant to the purposes of our roading network, such as rail and cycleways. More to come on this in the coming months...

Farewell to our Australian Intern, Rhys Budge 👋🇦🇺

Last year, Rhys Budge jumped across the ditch from Australia to join us for a couple of months on an internship thanks to a bursary from our friends at the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, a freemarket organisation in Perth. 

Rhys has been a fantastic addition to the team who has been involved in a wide range of research and investigations tasks during his time here. Rhys was responsible for research and producing our Nanny State Approved Christmas Feast report and has written another soon to be released reports on MP pay and the eye-watering costs of government branding and website 'refreshes'.

Rhys heads back to Australia to finish his studies in economics and finance and we know he will go on to do great things. We wish him the best of luck!

Rhys has written a blog post about his time at the Taxpayers' Union which you can read here.

Support the Next Generation of Fiscally Prudent Political Leaders 🧒🧠

As someone who started at the Taxpayers' Union as an intern, I know the value of being able to learn about and apply 'radical' ideas such as democratic accountability, transparency, and limited government. 

Being a student in a city like Wellington, the Taxpayers' Union internship allowed me to escape the echo-chamber of thought that plagues universities and is an opportunity for free discussion, lively debate, and being part of a great team.

Unlike the political parties (we're looking at you Labour!), we pay our interns. And, as you will see in the coming weeks from some of Rhys' work, they produce great research that holds the government to account and exposes government waste. 

If you would like to support the Taxpayers' Union internship programme, you can chip in to help fund an intern here.

Other News in Brief ⏰

• We welcomed the news that road user charges will finally be added to electric vehicles, making the system fairer and ensuring that those who use the roads pay for the damage they cause. Those driving fuel-powered vehicles should not be forced to subsidise (often more affluent) EV road users – especially when (contrary to what you'd see in the media!) electric cars don't actually reduce New Zealand's overall emissions (see my explainer video here).
• The Independent Electoral Review released their report on how to improve the electoral system which included recommending that the voting age be lowered to 16, it be made legal to bribe voters with refreshments and entertainment and that political parties be given even more taxpayer funding. We slammed the review and pointed out that taxpayer funding for political parties erodes democracy, favours incumbents and is morally unjustifiable.

Callum is back from seeing his family Scotland this weekend, so it'll be my turn to take some summer leave. I've enjoyed leading the campaign team over the holidays and can't wait for more policy wins this year.

Thanks for your support,

Connor Molloy Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Media mentions:

NZ Herald Govt announces review of Kāinga Ora, Christopher Luxon responds to criticism over publicly-funded te reo lessons

NZ Herald Former transport minister Michael Wood lashes out at National for scrapping Auckland light rail

Rural News Clocking-up debt

Stuff Why the South Island’s slow shrinking could require Parliament to grow

NZ City The Taxpayers' Union wants more changes to how our road user charges work

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

Big newsletter today – we learn how the 'other half' (that is, those bureaucrats in Wellington) live. A new poll is bad news for the Government, but good news for Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters, plus Jordan sits down with expert pollster (and Taxpayers' Union Co-founder!) David Farrar to ask exactly how polls work, how the sample is selected, and why I'm never called! We also get to the bottom of that Green Party advertising we told you about last week.

Ministry for Pacific Peoples spends $40,000 on a farewell knees-up for CEO🪘 🎉🍾

But first up this week: It's been revealed that the Ministry for Pacific Peoples spent $39,262.22 on a lavish farewell party 'event' for its outgoing CEO, Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae.

Mr Leauanae – who was moving down the road to become CEO of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage – was showered with $7,500 worth of gifts, which included carvings and fine mats, with the Ministry spending $3,000 on “discretionary items” including photography, flowers and ceremonial drummers.

This comes not long after we exposed that the same Ministry had spent $260,000 on catering last year despite only having 127 staff members (in 2017, they had just 35!).

We say that it is stories like this that demonstrate how out of touch Wellington has become. While many New Zealanders are facing a cost of living crisis, those on the taxpayer dime are happy to continue to live it up.

As Jordan pointed out on the AM Show this morning, this is the Ministry that is supposed to be representing some of New Zealand's poorest communities. Clearly they have lost touch if they can spend forty grand on a party without anyone blinking an eyelid (until, that is, someone sends them an OIA). $40,000 is more than five years worth of tax for someone on the minimum wage!

It appears that there is a growing multi-billion dollar hole in the Government accounts caused by their reckless fiscal management and out-of-control spending that has significantly weakened the economy and plunged the tax take.

We will know for certain how much trouble the country is in when the Government opens the books in September for the pre-election economic and fiscal update. But one thing is clear: Even Grant Robertson is worried. Recently he called an emergency meeting with the chief executives of Government departments instructing them to stop increasing spending.

But restraint or 'freezing' isn’t enough. With Government debt reaching almost $79,000 per household, Grant Robertson needs to significantly slash the billions in wasteful spending to help get the books back in the black.

We are calling on Grant Robertson to slash his wasteful spending to get debt under control and begin to grow the economy. If you have 30 seconds, add your name in calling for the Government to cut wasteful spending.

NEW POLL: Labour crashes, Winston back, Luxon neck-and-neck with Hipkins in preferred PM race 📊💥

Let’s Get Wellington (Not) Moving 🛑🚌

The National Party revealed their transport policy last week, proposing to scrap the $7.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) project. Taxpayers will breathe a sigh of relief that the LGWM wasteful consultant-driven boondoggle is set for the scrapheap. Despite the name, every project to date has done anything but get the city moving.

Despite the lack of asphalt laid, consultant expenses have already exceeded $130 million, while the overall costs have ballooned from $2.3 billion in 2018 to $7.4 billion – that's $3,766 per Kiwi household, just for Wellington.

It comes as no surprise that the only project completed by the bureaucracy to date is a $2.4 million pedestrian crossing – so much for getting the city moving.

Some people have argued that because Mayor Tory Whanau was elected on a pro-LGWM platform, the project should continue. But there is a difference between central government running over the will of local communities who are spending their own money and central government deciding not to fund a wasteful project with money that comes from all taxpayers – not just those living in Wellington.

Amidst high inflation and living costs, families are suffering and more spending on LGWM will only require future taxes and rates to be increased even further. With Labour also hinting at withdrawing support for LGWM, it is instead time for the Council to deliver a no-nonsense transport plan that focuses on cost and efficiency rather than ideology.

Ditch The Broadcast Allocation: A Step Toward A Fairer Democracy 📺💵

Taxpayers fork out a lot of money to support political parties. In addition to the Parliamentary Services budget that goes well beyond advertising MPs' contact details and electorate work, each election cycle, we are made to foot the bill for broadcasting allocations. This year alone, taxpayers be contributing $4.1 million towards party political propaganda on our TV screens.

Such funding favours established parties while creating substantial barriers for new entrants. This is despite the major parties such as National, ACT and Labour amassing over $7.5 million in funds last year. One has to question the need for them to receive taxpayer subsidy. Taxpayers' Union – Curia polling suggests that 51% of New Zealanders oppose the broadcast allocation while 61% of Kiwis are against the direct funding of political parties. 

Taxpayer funding for political parties risks tilting the scales of our democratic process, disproportionately benefiting long-standing political giants. For a robust democratic process, it's time that political parties embrace a shift towards private funding to bolster democracy, ensure parties actively seek and value the backing of their constituents and promote greater transparency.

Our Investigations Co-ordinator, Oliver Bryan, looks into this issue in more detail here.

Green Party advertising: A clarification 🟢🖥️

In the last Taxpayer Update, we reported that Green Party local election adverts on Facebook had used Parliamentary Service (i.e. taxpayer funded) advertising account.

We were contacted by the Greens' Chief of Staff last week who has shown us evidence that the mistake was in fact by their advertising agency who had put the incorrect 'paid for by' disclaimer statement on the adverts. As such, no taxpayer money was used towards election advertising. We are delighted to be able to clarify this and appreciate the Greens being so forthcoming in showing us the documentation.

Until next time!

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

Whanganui Chronicle Whanganui District Council chief executive says $22 million spend on contractors and consultants most cost-effective option

NewstalkZB Morning Edition: 03 August 2023 – Ratepayers' Report (01:32)

Greymouth Star Coast residential rates 'some of the most affordable' [print only]

The Westport News BDC high earners top Coast [print only]

Newsroom Wairarapa communities light the way for new era of local council mergers

Wānaka App QLDC makes the podium for highest rates in New Zealand

Central App Mayor’s column: Context important when comparing rates

Kaikoura Star Kaikoura has 12th highest rates in the country [print only]

BusinessDesk Business of Government: Act wants to stop work, the cost of campaign promises, and more...

Northland Age FROM THE OTHER SIDE Democracy seems to be against the ropes in NZ [print only]

Te Awamutu News Council keeps mum on payments

AM Show Taxpayers' Union slams shortsighted Ministry for Pacific Peoples after $40k farewell party

RNZ Taxpayers Union on Ministry of Pacific Peoples $40,000 staff farewell

Exposed: Green Party misused taxpayer money for local body electioneering! 🗳️

An investigation by the Taxpayers' Union has exposed that the Green Party used money meant for MPs constituency activities to pay for election ads for their local council candidates.

Our Investigations Co-ordinator, Oliver Bryan, uncovered that the Greens used taxpayer-funded Parliamentary resources to boost Facebook advertisements linking to a political website advertising Green Party candidates across the country – hitting 10,000 New Zealanders on one day alone.

The rules are clear: Parliamentary Service resources are not to be used for electioneering. While sometimes there are grey areas between what is party political and parliamentary advertising, this is a clear breach that is a violation of the rules. 

The Greens even wasted our money on candidates that didn't exist! 🤯

One of the many adverts we have uncovered, was this:

But there is one small problem: the Greens didn't have any council candidates in Christchurch!

If they have not done so already, we say the Greens need to pay back back these misused taxpayer dollars. Parliamentary funding should not be used as a backdoor means for taxpayer funding of political parties. We've given the Party until the end of the week to confirm they've refunded the full amounts before we head to the Auditor General.

You can watch Ollie talk about this story to Scoop here.

Update: Moments before this newsletter was sent, we got a response from the Greens - they claim that despite the "paid for" statement (meaning that the Parliamentary Service Facebook "Ad Account" and Business Manager were used), they still deny any inappropriate spending. More to come next week...

Shocking salaries for CEOs of non-existent Three Waters entities💰🚰

Just when you thought Labour's Three Waters 'reforms' couldn't get any worse, yet another painful fact turns up. This time it is the revelation that the Chief Executive Officers for the original four water service entities are being paid between $602,500 to $815,500 per year – a big jump up from what the Chief Executives of Watercare and Wellington Water were being paid. 

The Department of Internal Affairs refused the NZ Herald's Official Information Requests on the grounds that revealing the salaries of the CEOs would breach privacy. But, once the entities have been created the information will be required to be disclosed – it is just officials trying to avoid political embarrassment.

Hate to say we told you so... 👀

Nania Mahuta sold Three Waters as a way to save money. But taking control away from local communities allows faceless bureaucrats to snub transparency and accountability with taxpayers paying more. This example is case in point.

Speaking of Three Waters, stay tuned for a big announcement from the Taxpayers' Union. We've been working on something for a while, and I can't wait to tell you all about it...

Broke Department of Conservation must scrap te reo bonuses 🗣️💵 

The Department of Conservation is paying staff bonuses of up to $3,500 a year for participation in Māori language courses. But when asked whether any of the roles in the Department required te reo proficiency, DoC admitted that it had no such roles.
 
At a time when DoC is scrambling around trying to find ways to dig itself out of a multi-million dollar black hole, we say it shouldn't be spending taxpayers’ money on skills that are not practical requirements of the job.

Coincidentally, since Callum arrived in New Zealand he's been attending te reo classes outside of work hours and for no bonus payment – why should it be any different for DoC staff? You can watch my comments on Te Ao Māori news here (skip to 27:16).

Government Censorship: far-reaching regulation regime proposed 💬❌

The Department of Internal Affairs recently closed its consultation on its so-called 'Safer Online Services and Media Platforms' discussion paper. In short, they want to 'protect you' from this newsletter.

I'm not kidding. The proposals are so far reaching, an undemocratic and unaccountable regulator would have the power to censor content that it deems to be 'harmful' or 'unsafe'. Even these newsletter updates from your humble Taxpayers' Union would be subject to the proposed suppression regulatory regime.

The Government argues that these proposals are necessary to reduce and remove harmful and unsafe content from the internet. But claiming words and political arguments are 'harmful' or 'unsafe' is a slippery slope that would likely lead to unpopular or contrarian opinions being silenced. 

Our Economist Ray Deacon made a robust response to the consultation, which you can read here.

Pub Politics: Taxpayers' Union announces Election Debates Series 📣📊🍻

The Taxpayers’ Union is hosting a series of debates in key electorates and on finance and party policies in the run up to this year’s election. The debates will give candidates and parties the opportunity to set out their stall to voters in advance of the election.

We are teaming up again with our friends at The Working Group podcast. Hosts Martyn Bradbury and Damien Grant will moderate the debates. Like The Working Group, the debates will be streamed live on The Daily Blog, the Taxpayers’ Union website, Facebook, and Freeview Channel 200. 

Prior to the electorate and finance debates, we will be releasing exclusive Taxpayers’ Union – Curia polling.

Rather than stuffy town halls, we're hosting the debates at pubs across the country. We hope to see many of you there. 🍻

More information will be released in the coming weeks at www.taxpayers.org.nz/debates 

Taxpayer Talk: Chris Bishop MP on RMA replacement and National's alternative 🎙️

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union I sat down with National Party MP, Chris Bishop, to discuss the Government's proposed replacement to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and what National would do with resource management if elected. 

Chris Bishop is National's spokesperson for RMA reform, Infrastructure and Housing and has been leading National's opposition to the contentious RMA reforms. In the podcast, Chris Bishop commits the National Party to repealing the Government's RMA replacement bills prior to Christmas if National is able to form a Government after the election. Chris makes the point that although the current RMA is bad, the proposed replacement is even worse and will make it even more difficult to build and develop.

As well as what's wrong with the proposed reforms, Chris discusses the principles National's alternative would be based on. They also cover a number of other policy areas, including indexation of tax brackets, the policies National would scrap are covered, plus, as campaign chair, how Chris believes National can win the election. 

Listen to the episode | Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

The Platform Hipkins betrays Three Waters promise

The Platform Jim Rose on the threat the Greens' wealth tax poses to NZ

Te Ao Māori News DOC's te reo Māori proficiency bonuses (27:16)

Crux New Māori advisor for QLDC, but the salary is secret

Otago Daily Times University’s consultancy cost increase ‘exorbitant’ [paywalled]

Kiwiblog One in eight cigarettes now come from the black market

Te Ao Māori News National's proposed Minister for Hunting and Fishing (22:29)

Democracy Project Bryce Edwards: How NZ First might “take back our country”

RNZ Latest political polling, campaign finances, social media targeting and more

Scoop Election Podcast: Greens use parliamentary funds for local campaigns

The Post Government should invest $500 million in startup companies, report says

The Daily Blog The Liberal Agenda: The Working Group announces 7 live-streamed TV simulcast Election Debates for 2023 Election

More bad news on the cost of living front

This week's slight dip in the inflation figures will not come as much consolation for families across New Zealand who are struggling with the cost of living. While the overall rate may have dropped, food price increases and domestic inflation both continue to remain stubbornly high despite the aggressive interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank.

Stop with the excuses Grant... IMF puts blame on Government's wasteful spending 

The Government likes to talk tough on the cost of living, but fails to acknowledge that its own spending is one of the biggest drivers of the problem.

Even the International Monetary Fund said last month that Grant Robertson needs to rein in his excessive spending. If the Finance Minister really wants to bring down inflation, he needs to cut the waste.

Here are some places he could start...

Taxpayers still footing bill for Pamū/Landcorp animal welfare violations 🐮😔

This week, we revealed that taxpayer money is being used to reimburse animal welfare fines for farmers at our taxpayer-owned farming company, Pamū (formerly known as Landcorp). 

Pamū states that they are ‘proud guardians of our land and animals' but the string of offences that taxpayers have been made to stump up for paint a very different picture. 

You wouldn't expect your employer to pay a speeding ticket you received while working, would you? Well that's what is happening here. Taxpayers are being forced to subsidize the small minority of farmers who mistreat their stock. This isn't even the first time this has happened, the Taxpayers' Union called out exactly the same practice by what was then called Landcorp three years ago. 

Allowing Pamū farmers to get off lightly is unfair on private sector farmers who work hard to maintain world-leading standards of care. It's certainly unfair on the animals who suffer. Having taxpayers cover the fines removes individual responsibility and weakens the deterrent effect that ensures Pamū farmers treat their animals with the care they deserve. If you would like to contact Pamū urging them to stop paying these fines, you can do so here.

Pūhoi to Warkworth opening ceremony blowout 🚗🥳

What roundup of Government waste would be complete without a party for politicians and public servants?

Your humble Taxpayers' Union this week revealed that despite Labour opposing the Pūhoi to Warkworth highway (remember Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson labelling it the 'holiday highway'?), they couldn't give up an opportunity for a knees-up!

Having learnt nothing from the lavish Transmission Gully opening ceremony last year, Waka Kotahi – along with Auckland Transport this time – spent at least $44,380.74 on the opening ceremony for the Pūhoi to Warkworth highway.

And one has to question whether there was that much to celebrate. This vastly over budget $880 million road is already falling apart at the seams. Multiple internal reports made it clear that landslides were leading to cracked barriers and warped surfaces, and this has been happening regularly since at least 2019. Waka Kotahi had also only completed 8 of 117 tests at the time of opening. 

Let's not forget that at the start of this month, the Government hiked taxes on petrol by 29 c/litre and road user charges by 56%. Motorists can rightly be annoyed that during a cost of living crisis, these tax hikes are paying for, well, parties. 

Reel Waste: Film Commission splashes out on another foreign jaunt 📽️🏖️

It is time again to roll out the red carpet for another instalment of 'Reel Waste', brought to you by the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC). Earlier this week, Taxpayers' Union Investigations Co-ordinator, Oliver Bryan, pulled back the curtain on their recent Cannes trip.

Four members of the NZFC's staff embarked on a jaunt to the French Riviera, courtesy of your hard-earned money, costing $73,000. They spent $31,000 on plane tickets, $24,000 on wining and dining in style, and hosting a series of events, including 'producer speed dating', and $17,000 on lavish accommodation.

And guess what? They arrived in Cannes five whole days before the festival officially kicked off and stayed for three days after it wrapped up! Now, call me a sceptic, but this sounds more of a holiday to me than a work trip. Something smells a bit off, and it isn't just the scent of croissants and escargot.

NEW REPORT: Wealth tax bad for savings, innovation and entrepreneurial growth 🤑📉

Chris Hipkins is trying to rule out introducing a capital gains tax or a wealth (i.e. asset) tax under his leadership. While he may have ended up with a few disgruntled caucus members, as the leader of a majority government, that is a promise he can make with reasonable certainty. If the Prime Minister does manage to hang on after the election, however, he will undoubtedly require the support of the Green Party who have very different ideas. 

This week, we published a new report by our Research Fellow, Jim Rose, on the Green Party's proposals for an asset and trust tax. 

Pulling together the world’s leading economic research on the effects of asset taxes, the report finds that the Greens' proposals would be seriously damaging for our economy and would discourage savings, innovation and entrepreneurial growth.

Jim gave an overview of the key findings of his report in yesterday's edition of The Post.

Resource Management Act Reforms: What you need to know 🏘️🗳️

David Parker's radical reforms to the Resource Management Act were back in Parliament this week. Despite the increasing public opposition to this 'Three Waters 2.0', Labour rammed the undemocratic proposals through their second reading just three weeks after the whopping 1,377 page select committee report was released. How many MPs do you think actually read, and fully understood, the recommendations in that time?

Our campaign against the Government’s proposed replacement to the Resource Management Act has been going strong with more and more people and politicians starting to take notice. Earlier this month, our Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, released a video outlining the problems with the proposed reforms and why they are destined to be a costly failure.

While proponents of centralization often make wild claims of efficiency gains through economies of scale and a more streamlined decision-making process, this is far from the reality. As Connor explains well, every time in recent history that a Government has tried to centralize power, we end up with higher costs, worse decision making and less accountability for those making bad decisions.

Resource management and urban planning is one of the key factors that will either stifle or power-up productivity and so it is fundamentally important that it is done well. You can help spread the word by taking a moment to share Connor’s video on Facebook so we can alert as many people as possible to what the Government is doing. 

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald New Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll delivers more bad news to Labour’s Chris Hipkins and National’s Chris Luxon, but a boost for Te Pāti Māori

Stuff Labour hit with second bad poll result in as many days

The Daily Blog BOOM: NEW POLL – HUNG PARLIAMENT

NewstalkZB Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent doubtful Taxpayers' Union – Curia poll will be reflected in election

NewstalkZB The Huddle: Did the Government think they could get away with a wealth tax in an election year?

NZ Herald Labour’s Chris Hipkins eyes new tax policy as poll struggles bite, rules out wealth, capital gains tax

NZ Herald Editorial: A tale of tax reform and two new polls

Newshub Election 2023: Political pundit Bryce Edwards says back-to-back bad poll results will have Labour 'very worried'

The Kaka by Bernard Hickey The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

NewstalkZB Afternoon Edition: 13 July 2023 (Poll)

Waatea News Support for Māori Party widens

The Listener Political week in review: Labour polling down as Chris Hipkins missing vision

Hawke's Bay Today Canny View: Don’t let tax creep get you down

RNZ Week in Politics: Hipkins makes a captain's call as Labour slides in the polls

Gisborne Herald Wealth tax call a high-risk strategy

NZ Herald Poll of polls: Race tightens with National only just ahead of Labour

NewstalkZB The Huddle: Are the Commonwealth Games worth preserving?

The Post The risk the Greens’ wealth tax poses to our economy

NEW POLL: Hung Parliament as Māori Party and ACT make gains 📊😳

The Prime Minister today announced that he is ruling out a wealth or capital gains tax despite having asked officials to give the Government advice for consideration of introducing a wealth tax as part of the budget process earlier this year.

The Taxpayers' Union has been calling on the PM to commit to this for some time, but it seems another poll earlier this week that had Labour at its lowest level of support for many years may have bounced him into making this announcement. He understands that such proposals are politically toxic. But these aren't just politically bad, they are economically ruinous too. 

No country has ever taxed itself into prosperity. Mr Hipkins shouldn't just be ruling out these two taxes, but ruling out any new taxes while he is Prime Minister – including extending or raising existing taxes. Only by doing this can we look to make New Zealand a high-growth, high productivity country where people want to live, work and invest. 

Can we trust Chippie at his word? 😉

A word of caution. We cheered when Jacinda Ardern made a commitment to rule out "any new taxes", but she broke her word – repeatedly – despite the Labour majority. Since the 2020 campaign, we have seen:

> Continued tax hikes by stealth through bracket creep

> Introduction of the ute tax 

> Annual tax increases to alcohol and tobacco 

> The extension of the bright line test

> Stopping interest deductibility for rental properties

> Increasing the trust tax rate 

Plus, today's poll confirms that any Government Chris Hipkins leads post-election would have to involve the Greens and the Māori Party who both want nothing less than exorbitant tax hikes and new asset taxes.

Just who's to blame for high supermarket prices? 🛒 👀

The Government has established as new 'Grocery Commissioner', which it says will tackle New Zealand’s excessive grocery prices. But while it likes bashing the supermarket companies, the real issues behind paying too make for groceries lies in over-regulation. 

The grocery duopoly is propped up by restrictions on both foreign competition and land use. High corporate taxes and the ban on foreign companies owning land make New Zealand an unattractive market for international discount chains to invest in.

And the Government has doubled down with the Grocery Industry Competition Bill’s ridiculous requirement for potential future competitors to supply their competition (i.e. the two big established players) with produce at wholesale prices.

Restrictions under the Resource Management Act (RMA) prevent would-be competitors from setting up shop, resulting in localized monopolies and price gouging. David Parker’s RMA reforms are only going to make this worse.

And all of this is before the Government continues to drive inflation through its reckless overspending. It is little wonder food price inflation of 12.5% is causing families to feel the pain.

Instead of fixing the drivers of high food costs, the Government appears to be trying to shift the blame. Adding more bureaucracy isn’t going to reduce barriers to entry and cut grocery costs.

Writing in today's edition of The Post, Taxpayers’ Union Researcher James Ross explains in more detail how the Government is fuelling excessive grocery prices. Read his piece over here.

Taxpayers were made to foot the bill for up to $2 million in census giveaways 🎁

As if the census earlier this year was not disastrous enough with its poor return rate, your humble Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that up to $2 million was budgeted for handing out support vouchers to get non-responding individuals and households to complete the census.  

From that $2 million budget, $1 million went to communities nationwide and the other half went to households in Auckland. Across both streams of work, vouchers were given out at up to $100 dollars in value. As of 18 May, the total spend on food and fuel vouchers was $176,090. 

Taxpayers' Union Researcher Alex Murphy looks into this issue in more detail in a blogpost and asks whether it is really the right approach to offer those who refuse to fill out their census forms a free meal. The scheme leaves a rather bad taste in the mouth.

Thank you for your support.

Yours aye,

Callum Purves Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Media coverage:

NZ Herald Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown sets record for the Super City’s highest rates increase ever

Business Desk Queenstown adds $30m to ratepayer bill to pay debt

The Post How the Government is propping up our excessive grocery prices