Dear Supporter,

Happy Easter. As you'll see in the media summary at the bottom of this email, we've been busy all week with our rates freeze campaign. Slowly but surely, our efforts are resulting in more and more councils commit to freezing rates.

But before we get to that, let me introduce our latest effort — this one just as crucial for giving taxpayers a fair go during the COVID-19 crisis.

Unlike hundreds of thousands of private-sector workers worried about their jobs, civil servants and bureaucrats are insulated. To fairly share the burden of the economic crunch, we're calling for the cancellation of all public sector pay hikes until the economy has recovered.

Further to that, we’re asking elected officials, public sector CEOs, and their leadership teams to take a 12-month 20 percent pay cut.

Here's why it's a no-brainer

With unemployment skyrocketing, and private sector bosses (including this one!) taking financial haircuts, a pay freeze across the public sector is prudent and compassionate. We are all sharing the pressures faced by households and businesses right now. Why should bureaucrats, paid by taxpayers, be any different?

Remember: the average public sector salary is around a third higher than that of the private sector. And while private-sector jobs are threatened, bureaucrats have the luxury of far higher job security.

And for those paid at the top end, a 20 percent voluntary pay cut is a small sacrifice in these extraordinary times when so many New Zealanders are losing their jobs.

Over the next week, our team will be individually writing to senior officials and politicians asking them to participate. But like all of our campaigns, our effectiveness relies on people power.

>> Add your name in support public sector pay cuts <<

Rates freeze campaign dominates headlines

Each day, new councils are announcing rates freeze proposals. Our rates freeze dashboard continues to track this progress.

Take this extraordinary u-turn from Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese, who previously called our campaign 'disappointing'!

Our victory in Christchurch, flipping the Mayor's position on a rates freeze, is particularly impressive. Christchurch City Council has the highest per ratepayer debt of any council in New Zealand. If they can freeze rates, other councils have no excuse!

All this means more pressure is piling on councils like Auckland and Wellington, who continue to drag the chain. 

Wednesday's Newshub bulletin covered our campaign:

Coronavirus: Councils under pressure to drop rates increase

However, revenue-hungry mayors have found allies in the media. Look at these headlines:

• Why Auckland's rates still need to rise despite Covid-19 outbreak -Stuff
  

• Councils warned rates freezes could cripple economic recovery -NZ Herald

The common themes are a refusal to address bloated operating expenditure — such as payroll — and a dangerous suggestion that ratepayers need local councils to 'stimulate' the economy.

Around the country, our team are working overtime to expose this propaganda for what it is.

First, rates have increased more than three times the level of inflation over the last three decades. Surely councils can look, just this once, to find savings before they dig deeper into your pockets.

Second, councils hiking rates to 'stimulate the economy' is a false economy. Unlike taxes paid to central government (on income, spending, and profits), rates are totally unrelated to a householder's ability to pay. Every dollar used to 'stimulate' the economy is taken from the very same economy.

You can do your part for the campaign by sharing our rates freeze petition, sharing our public sector pay cut petition, or chipping-in to our campaign fund.

Government passing laws under level 4 lockdown

While the Government tells businesses to close unless they are 'essential', it's not applying the same test to Parliament.

Ironically, we had to appear before the Health Select Committee this week on (of all things) a vaping bill the Government is rushing through Parliament under lockdown!

David Seymour was spot on when he said:

The Government can't have it both ways. It can't say ‘we're in a state of emergency, Parliament's shut, and we have extraordinary new powers, but we're still going to push through our political agenda’. Either we're in a state of emergency where we suspend normal politics, or we're not.

In the unusual circumstances, Islay — an ex-smoker who now vapes — did us proud and appeared before the Select Committee via Zoom. You can watch her submission here.

A tough call

Finally this week, you might have noticed some media about our decision to join the hundreds of thousands of organisations taking up the wage subsidy.

Like most not-for-profits, our donation revenue has been affected by COVID-19, and in particular the lockdown (which makes face-to-face fundraising impossible). But unlike other groups, we have always prided ourselves as having never taken Government funding.

You can read our statement on the decision to take the wage subsidy here, but in short, we considered our duty to our employees of higher priority than ideological purity. We're a campaign group, not a philosophy project. A one-off payment to keep staff on the books during a literal pandemic doesn't change our funding model.

Our work will always rely on supporters like you agreeing that taxpayers need a strong voice, and making this work possible. Indeed, in the current economic climate, our work for efficient and transparent government is more important than ever.

Thank you for your support. Here's to a good Easter in lockdown,

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

PS: We're pumping out our new Taxpayer Talk podcast - which in just a few weeks has hit 10,000 downloads! In the latest episode, Louis and Joe interview Daniel Bunn of the US Tax Foundation about economic relief spending – and whether taxpayers should be concerned. You can find all our episodes online here and via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.