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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with National Party Police Spokesperson, Mark Mitchell, to discuss National’s plan for law and order if they are successful in the election later this year. 

Prior to entering Parliament, Mark was a police officer and was a member of the Dog Section and Armed Offender’s Squad. He has also had an international business career, including the start-up of his own company specialising in hostage rescue, supply chain security, and risk management. He has also worked in emergency response providing humanitarian support overseas. Mark is also National’s spokesperson for the Serious Fraud Office, Counter-Terrorism and Corrections.

Jordan and Mark discuss the increasing levels of crime in New Zealand, gang numbers, and what the National Party would do should they be in Government after the election. 

Also discussed is the new firearms registry, whether it will make the country more safe and if it is worth the significant establishment costs. 

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This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with Malcolm Alexander and Stephen Franks to discuss the bill that the Taxpayers' Union commissioned to repeal and replace the Government’s Three Waters scheme.

The development of the bill, along with detailed drafting of key provisions, has been a months-long project carried out by the law firm Franks Ogilvie.

Malcolm Alexander has a background in local government, infrastructure, consulting and law and is the former Chief Executive of Local Government New Zealand. Malcolm chaired the expert Technical Advisory Group that provided guidance for and scrutiny of the Bill drafting process. 

Stephen Franks is the Director of Franks Ogilvie Commercial and Public Law and has been working alongside an experienced former Parliamentary Drafter in drafting the Bill to replace Three Waters. 

The Government’s Three Waters proposals would lead to higher water costs, no local control, more bureaucracy, and less democracy. The Bill project is intended to set out a substantive, workable alternative water infrastructure reform programme that addresses these concerns while fixing the problems councils currently face managing their water infrastructure. 

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This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits down with Taxpayers’ Union co-founder, pollster and blogger, David Farrar to discuss how polling works along with his time at the Taxpayers’ Union and why he is stepping down. 

David founded Curia Market Research, a polling company, in 2004 and has had decades of experience organising, conducting and analysing polls. In this podcast, David answers some of the most common questions we get about how polling works and what makes a poll reliable. 

Also in the podcast is the story of how David came to be a pollster in the first place, his early successes and the eventual rise to being the National Party’s pollster of choice. Having provided polling services to three New Zealand Prime Ministers, and four Opposition Leaders, John Key famously described Farrar as “the best pollster in New Zealand”. 

Unfortunately, after almost ten years since forming the Union, David has decided it is time to resign as a board member. Jordan asks the obvious question: “where to from here?” 

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This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, sits 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. The National Party have committed 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.

In the podcast, Chris discusses what is wrong with the proposed reforms and the principles National's alternative would be based on. Later in the podcast, we also discuss a number of other policy areas such as indexation of tax brackets, the policies National would scrap and whether, as campaign chair, Chris believes National can win the election. 

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This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, sits down with ACT Party MP, Simon Court, to discuss the recent Three Waters rebrand, the proposed resource management reforms and what ACT is proposing to solve New Zealand's significant infrastructure and planning problems.

Simon Court is ACT's spokesperson for infrastructure, the environment and local government and has been leading their response to the contentious Three Waters and RMA reforms. Prior to becoming an MP, Simon was a civil and environmental engineer working both in the private sector and for local government. Simon believes that local control, strong private property rights and the right incentives for councils to make good decisions will be what leads to solving some of our biggest problems going forward. 

Later in the podcast, for our War on Waste segment, Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, reveals a 19-month long investigation into the Government’s decision to give millions of taxpayer dollars to a gang-affiliated meth rehabilitation program and the bureaucratic process of simply getting straight answers from officials.

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You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps. 

This week on Taxpayer Talk, Taxpayers' Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, sits down with Wellington City Councillor, Ray Chung, to discuss Wellington’s shocking 12.3% rates rise and why this is being driven by inefficient, wasteful spending at the Council.

Councillor Chung was elected just last year as the representative for Wharangi / Onslow-Western Ward. He's one of the few fiscal conservatives on the Council and is able to provide some interesting insight into its inner workings and explains why it is so hard – and expensive – to get anything done. We also get to hear why Councillor Chung is a vocal opponent of Three Waters and co-governance along with discussing potential solutions for the Council's severe infrastructure deficit.

Later in the podcast, for our War on Waste segment, Taxpayers’ Union Deputy Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, analyses the growth of managers in the public service and investigates whether the growth in the public service is driven by the core frontline workforce or simply a ballooning of the backroom bureaucracy of managers and consultants.

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On this episode of Taxpayer Talk, Peter Williams speaks with former Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand Chair, Rob Campbell, to discuss political neutrality within the public service. 

Campbell was publicly sacked from his high-profile position in the public service after making controversial comments about the National Party's Three Waters policy on his LinkedIn account. Campbell has doubled down on his comments and feels he should be free to give his opinion on controversial issues. Since recording this podcast, he has also been dismissed from his role at the Environmental Protection Authority but remains unremorseful.

Throughout this episode, Peter and Rob dive deep into the responsibilities of public servants, where professional responsibility ends and where personal opinion begins.

Later in the episode we are joined by Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, to hear his perspective on the state of political neutrality within the public service. 

Also this week, we hear from our War on Waste team who have uncovered a million dollar truancy awareness campaign. But will it get kids to go to school? 

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

You can also listen to Taxpayer Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio and all good podcast apps.