Dear Friend,

Day two in isolation – we hope that you and your family are safe and comfortable in our new albeit temporary 'way of life'. It's time to pull together, apart.

The Taxpayers' Union team is fortunate. We can work from home, and had already been trialling this. (In fact, I've been working from self-isolation since I returned from overseas twelve days ago.)

As you will see, we're keeping busy representing taxpayers in this turbulent time.

Our new podcast

With circumstances changing so quickly, we've brought forward the launch of Taxpayer Talk, our new podcast.

In our first episodes last week, we sat down with Taxpayer Caucus member, Stuff columnist and Magic Talk contributor Damian Grant.

They say you can't find a libertarian in a pandemic, but Damian appears to prove that wrong. Damian debated Joe Ascroft on the role of Government spending in the current economic crisis and why Damien thinks our paper calling for the types of economic support the Government has since announced is wrong. You can listen to that here (or here via Apple Podcasts or Spotify).

On the other side of the fence, we spoke to Michael Reddell – a former Board member of the IMF, and Head of Financial Markets at the RBNZ – who is pushing for much more radical proposals for government intervention and taxpayer-funded support. Michael wants an ACC-style income guarantee covering everyone for 80% of last year's taxable income. You can listen to that here (or here via Apple Podcasts, or Spotify).

Nationwide rates freeze: local government lobby group panics

A week ago we wrote to every mayor in the country calling on local and regional councils to do their bit for economic relief by implementing a freeze on rates.

It seems that some mayors, unwilling to make a commitment either way, approached Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) about our letter.

On Saturday LGNZ's Dave Cull (pictured) released a statement to the media saying "a request from the Taxpayers’ Union to implement a 12-month rates freeze is misguided and has the potential to put the brakes on economic recovery."

He's wrong. Rates are bluntly levied on rateable values. This means that people on lower incomes pay a larger proportion of their earnings on rates than higher earners. The flip side is that rates relief means more money in the pockets of those lower earners who are likely to spend any extra income in their community, stimulating the economy.

Some councils are already getting the message

LGNZ is nervous about our campaign because they know that if just one council agrees to freeze rates, there will be massive public pressure on others to follow suit.

It's already happening. Since we launched our campaign, Waikato Regional Council and Dunedin City Council have both signaled they'll be freezing rates. Dunedin's leadership team are even taking salary cuts!

All in all, we're confident we can push more many more councils over the line – so long as we maintain the pressure.

You can help by sharing our petition on Facebook. You can also ensure the petition reaches more ratepayers by chipping in to our campaign fund for online advertising.

Meanwhile, we are now contacting every councillor in the country, informing them that already more than 4,000 New Zealanders have backed the campaign. Watch this space.

Special interest bailouts for artists

For weeks now, we've called on the Government to avoid bailouts for specific or favoured sectors – the effects of COVID-19 are across the whole economy. While the politicians seem to get it, the unelected bureaucrats at Creative New Zealand missed the memo.

Creative New Zealand has decided to spend $4.5 million bailing out the already-subsidised arts sector, on top of the support offered to all employers and beneficiaries.

What makes artists more deserving than every other business owner?

We say this money would be far better spent on front line health services or general economic relief.

Thank you for your support,

Louis Houlbrooke Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers' Union