COMING SOON: Lord of the Rings – The
Fellowship of the Kind 🎬
Not content with paying for feature-length documentaries about
Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick, the creative minds at the
NZ Film Commission have decided in their infinite wisdom to
funnel $800,000 of taxpayer money to prop up the production of a new
documentary about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Your humble Taxpayers' Union has, of course, called
the Commission out.
The
Film Commission is not
reading the room with its ridiculous decision to pile in $800k of
taxpayer money into a hero worship film about Dame Jacinda Ardern says
the Taxpayers’
Union.
A spokesman for the
Union, Jordan Williams, said, “On the one hand, the Film Commission
says the film has market confidence and will likely be a commercial
success, but then on the other they give it taxpayer money
anyway.”
“From a taxpayer’s perspective, any
funding of films about politicians is questionable. Most countries
call it propaganda.”
This is why public funding of media usually comes with requirements
to be balanced or non-partisan. The Film Commission just
don't seem to care. They are abusing their position – responsible for
spending our money, but using it to promote elected representatives
from only one side of the political spectrum.
“‘Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Kind’ funding during a cost-of-living crisis
confirms what we already know: the Film Commission is nothing but a
leftie love-in and ignores any pretence of being politically neutral.
It should be focused on the arts, not
politics.”
“And it’s not the first time the
Film Commission’s been to the left-wing blockbuster rodeo. This is the
same outfit that pumped taxpayer money into a puff piece on Chlöe
Swarbrick. This Commission lacks self-awareness and
professionalism.”
“The Commission needs to
be culled to fund real arts or balanced current affairs content. Tax
take is crumbling, families are struggling, and the fourth estate
is dying. There are far higher priorities than funding an adoring film
on a politician.”
In December 2021, NZ On
Air and the New Zealand Film Commission allocated NZ$200,000 and
NZ$20,000 to a feature-length documentary focusing on the political
career of Chlöe Swarbrick called Being Chlöe.
And we've since found another to add to the list: In addition
to Chlöe, back in 2018, Stuff reported on taxpayer
funded events promoting "My Year With Helen" [Clark] – a
fly-on-the-wall documentary of the former PM's job at the UN – which,
you guessed it, got
$870,000 in taxpayer-funding.
ST🛑P
taxpayer funding of political propaganda 🪧
We say enough is enough when it comes to arts funding being
highjacked for politics. We will be submitting to Parliament before
the next financial review of the Film Commission asking for a
change to the quango's governing legislation that would prevent
taxpayer–funded film grants being used for political propaganda.
If
you agree that the Film Commission’s purview should be
restricted to the arts, not politics, please take 30 seconds to add
your name to the petition.
Australia abolishes c.500 tariffs, should we follow suit? ✁🦘
Sometimes our Australian cousins get it right. Last
week, Australia's Labor Government announced it is doing what our own
Government is too scared to do: abolishing import tariffs on nearly
500 products to help fight their cost-of-living crisis.
Tariffs are taxes on products entering the country and are a failed
economic tool. New Zealand is mostly tariff free thanks to our free
trade deals, but there are still a number of select products from
certain countries that face import taxes of five or ten percent. These
include school uniforms, sunscreen, makeup, and even ambulances! 🚑
We say New Zealand should stand with Australia and called on
Christopher Luxon to do the same so New Zealanders could reap the
benefits of lower prices, more competition, and so consumers can avoid
the costs of self-imposed tariffs.
Our
Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, joined the AM Show to
discuss the merits of the idea.
Remember too, that the costs of tariffs aren't just the tariff
itself. Imposing even small tariffs justifies more bureaucracy at the
border and enormous compliance costs. In fact, New Zealand's remaining
tariffs likely cost more in administration and economic costs than
they generate in revenue! Governments of all stripes crow about the
benefits of free trade. Let's do it then!
Interest
deductibility pushed back: another unfriendly U-turn? 📝↩️
We've had dozens of emails from mum and dad landlords who are
feeling very disappointed that the Government is delaying the return
of interest deductibility for residential landlords. As is usually the
case in politics, the devil is in the detail.
Yes the Government should be applauded for the fulfilment
of pre-election promises to bring property investment into line with
every other investment and business class (whereby interest is a
legitimate business expense able to be deducted from taxable
income).
But on the other hand, it's more than a bit sneaky for the
Government to push the implementation back despite it being explicitly
clear in November's coalition agreements (refer
page 4) that the deduction would be available for the current
2023/2024 tax year. Bundled into last week's announcement was the
detail that taxpayers must wait another year – tax year
starting 1 April – for the policy to come into place.
As we've seen with
❌ the App
Tax, which National campaigned
to scrap, yet now have all but adopted;
❌ National's income tax threshold
indexation policy, which will no longer look to provide ongoing income
tax brackets adjustments for inflation; and
❌ the Trust Tax hike, which the now
Revenue-Minister spoke vehemently against and warned of the unintended
consequences of just 10 months ago.
Instead of taking the tough (but necessary) spending decisions to
reduce government spending as the Government receives bad financial
news, they are tending to take a "Labour-lite approach" and deliver
less for taxpayers.
Here at the Taxpayers' Union, our role is to help give the
Government – which campaigned so strongly against the very policies
they are now championing – some backbone. Times are tough, tax revenue
is weaker than forecast, and we know Wellington has a spending crisis.
But with tough economic times ahead, we say the Government ought to be
tougher to crack down on wasteful spending, rather than underdeliver
on the promises for tax relief to help kickstart the economy and
provide much-needed relief for households.
The next test will be the so-called Fair
Digital News Bargaining Bill, which looks like it may go ahead,
despite Minister Melissa Lee calling it a 'shakedown'. If it goes
through, we can expect to see New Zealand news gone from the major
social media platforms (as has happened in Australia and Canada).
Taxpayer Talk – MPs in Depth Series: Catherine
Wedd🎙
This week on Taxpayer Talk, Ollie sat down with National
Party MP for Tukituki, Catherine Wedd.
Catherine speaks about how, as a kid, she wanted to be a
lawyer, journalist and a politician, something she now describes as
"perhaps the three most unpopular professions of this
century" – but at the election last year was able to fill the third
leg of that dream. Catherine has also worked in horticulture and been
a director on the New Zealand Apples and Pears Board.
Along with discussing her career before politics, Ollie and
Catherine discuss her political ideology, the Public Interest
Journalism Fund and which Labour Party policy she secretly
admires.
Listen
to the episode on our website | Apple | Spotify | Google
Podcasts | iHeart
Radio
Other News in Brief ⏰
That's it
for this week,
Yours aye,
 |
Callum Purves
Head of
Campaigns
New Zealand
Taxpayers’ Union
|
