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Hi,
It's now the home stretch election-wise with our final electorate debate and poll in Tāmaki (where ACT's James Christmas is up against National's Mahesh Muralidhar to take over from Brooke van Velden) on Tuesday.
Next week too, we'll be releasing the last Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll before the election (keep an eye on your inbox on Wednesday for that)...
Meanwhile, like rust, government waste never sleeps. This week our investigations team uncovered some rather questionable spending by the Army.
Plus, colourful NZ First candidate Craig Stobo joins us for Taxpayer Talk.
But first...
Happy 13th birthday to the Taxpayers' Union! 🎂🎉
With all the election madness, we almost forgot a rather important milestone...
As of today, the Taxpayers' Union is a stroppy teenager!
And given how much trouble we've caused politicians over the past 13 years, I suspect the teenage years are going to be lots of fun!
Back in 2013, David Farrar and Jordan Williams founded the Taxpayers' Union on a basic premise: taxpayers deserve a strong, independent voice standing up for their rights and holding politicians to account.
Those expressive eyebrows! 😂
What started as a tinpot operation with big ambitions has grown into what is now the largest per-capita taxpayer group in the English-speaking world. Thanks to supporters like you, our nationwide movement of taxpayers sees campaigns against wasteful spending and higher taxes make an impact.
And what a journey it's been!
As detailed in our 10-year book, published just after the 2023 election, none of it would be possible without our hundreds of thousands of supporters who back our work.
Even $10 or $20 a month gives us the dependable funding to plan, take on bigger campaigns, and keep politicians accountable, no matter who's in government.
Celebrate our 13th birthday by becoming a Taxpayer Hero! 🎁
And as for our teenage years? Apparently teenagers are supposed to be argumentative, stubborn and a bit grumpy. Sounds like Wellington needs to watch out!
REVEALED: Army spends $3,600 getting its flags in a straight line! 🚩
Our investigations team uncovers all sorts of questionable government spending, and some of the smaller stories never make it to Taxpayer Update or social media. After all, there's plenty of waste involving millions of taxpayer dollars to keep us busy!
But sometimes a story is just so ridiculous that we can't help but share it... 👀
This week, Rhys and our investigations team uncovered that 16 Field Regiment at Linton Army Camp spent $3,600 [double checks notes] rearranging the flags in its headquarters' conference room.
Yes, seriously. The defence force spent three and a half grand to get flags rearranged and in a straight line!
According to the Defence Force, the "adjustments" were needed for "stewardship" to put the flags in a clearer historical order, and ensure they were displayed respectfully.
Apparently that doesn't come cheap!
And after all of that work, when Rhys went back and asked for photos of the flag lineup (your humble Taxpayers' Union wanted to at least show you what you paid for), the Army's Chief of Staff refused to provide them (refer to the last page).
We're all for a well-organised military, but when the top brass are concerning themselves with contracting in "experts" for historic flag formation rather than the deteriorating geo-political situation overseas, maybe taxpayers have reason to ask some questions...
The unfunded manifesto: $176 billion missing from the Greens' fiscal plan! 💸🧮
In last week's Bribe-O-Meter update, we revealed the Greens had promised more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in new spending.
Well, your humble Taxpayers' Union have been digging deeper...
James and the research team have now identified 17 individual spending promises announced by the Greens over the past four months that are conspicuous in their absence from what the Greens now say is their "comprehensive fiscal plan".
And these aren't exactly small commitments.
According to our boffins, the 17 missing policies add up to $176.4 billion over four years. That's $85,122 per Kiwi household!
Among the missing commitments are extending ACC cover to disabilities and illnesses ($96 billion), increasing benefits to what the Greens term a 'liveable rate' ($27.6 billion), and writing off student loans ($16.2 billion).
As James put it:
“Maybe it's that the left hand doesn't know what the other, further-left hand is doing at Green Party HQ.”
"All we've done is check off the Green's fiscal plan against their announcements. Announcing a policy without showing how it'll be paid for is the most cynical of political gaslighting. It's saying, 'give us your vote, and we'll figure out the rest later'."
"Either the Greens are simply throwing promises with no intention of follow through, or hiding a radical agenda to borrow (or tax) far more than their so-called 'fiscal plan' reveals."
Bribe-O-Meter Week 8: NZ First's spending promises nearly double! 💸
And it's not just the Greens who have been keeping our Bribe-O-Meter team busy this week...
New Zealand First has increased its spending promises by a whopping 80 percent in just seven days!
The biggest addition? A new defence spending pledge which, according to our calculations, would cost an extra $40.55 billion over four years.
That one promise from NZ First is nearly eight times the cost of all National's new spending promises combined!
Throw in another $866 million for NZ First's newly announced law and order policies, and NZ First's election promises are now more than $45,000 per household.
Meanwhile, the Greens' newly released fiscal plan didn't just have policy missing, it's new additions have pushed the total for their spending promises even higher, to $272.31 billion, or $131,425 per household. That's almost $9,000 more per household in just a week!
we weren't kidding when we said elections are expensive!
Labour's total remains at $34.23 billion, National's at $5.11 billion, and ACT remains the only party promising net savings, at $17.86 billion.
And if you picked up Wednesday's NZ Herald, you might have spotted our Bribe-O-Meter taking up an entire page!
Thanks to loyal taxpayers who backed our newspaper advertising campaign, we were able to put the differences between the parties' spending promises in front of tens of thousands of voters.
And the updated Bribe-O-Meter will be back in newsprint next week too.
See how all the parties stack up in the latest Bribe-O-Meter update.
Taxpayer Talk: NZ First's Craig Stobo on banks, supermarkets and power bills 🎙️
Should the Government buy back the BNZ, break up the supermarket giants, and shake up our electricity market?
That's quite a shopping list!
This week, former Financial Markets Authority chair and New Zealand First candidate Craig Stobo joins Peter Williams on Taxpayer Talk to discuss some of his party's biggest economic promises.
From supermarket competition and electricity prices to compulsory KiwiSaver and tax cuts for small businesses, Peter puts Craig through his paces on whether New Zealand First's plans would actually deliver for taxpayers.
They also discuss Winston Peters' opposition to raising the superannuation age and the rather important question of how New Zealand would pay for all these election promises.
Watch the latest episode of Taxpayer Talk on YouTube.
Last stop: Tāmaki! 🗳️🍻
After two months on the road, our 2026 electorate debate series is headed to Rob Muldoon's old seat of Tāmaki. Our final debate is taking place on Tuesday 3 November at the Mission Bay Tap Room (Good George), from 7:30 pm.
Former Labour MP Anna Lorck and commentator Damien Grant will be putting the Tāmaki candidates through their paces, asking the questions that matter to local voters ahead of election day.
Tickets are almost sold out, so if you're planning to join us, don't leave it until the last minute!
Tickets are just $10 and include a complimentary drink. 🥂
Come along and see us for the final debate of the year!
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