<[link removed]>RIP John Bishop

Hi Friend,

The update below was scheduled to go out on Saturday morning, but just prior to sending we learned the very sad news <[link removed]> that our founding Chair, former TVNZ political editor, and father to Cabinet Minister Christopher Bishop, had passed away unexpectedly.

So it is a very sombre note to start today's Taxpayer Update.

John was instrumental in setting up and getting the Taxpayers’ Union to where it is today.

An ‘old school’ journalist in the best possible sense, John had integrity, wisdom, wit, and a kindness that will be deeply missed. For many years, he has been my mentor and friend, and I know he has been the same to many of the staff and volunteers over the last 11 years.

We issued to the media a small tribute from David and me over the weekend which is posted online here. <[link removed]>The NZ Herald's piece on John is here <[link removed]> (although I am sure there will be more).

John got to know countless early supporters and financial supporters. So I am sure you will join me in offering our condolences to Rosemary, Eleanor, Christopher and the wider family on behalf of the whole Taxpayers’ Union.

Rest in peace, John.



📌 View Online <[link removed]> |  🚀 Share on Facebook <[link removed]>

Hi Friend,

A new poll (and it's not good news for Chris Hipkins); even more wasteful spending on "white privilege workshops" for Wellington bureaucrats in this week's Taxpayer Update.

But first, we have to tackle the extraordinary news that IRD officials have been caught uploading taxpayer data to social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. <[link removed]>

🚨 IRD Data Leak 🚨

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Thanks to the hundreds of supporters who have contacted us concerned about IRD's data leak that was first reported by Radio NZ on Monday.

We were as stunned as anyone that IRD staff have been caught extracting data from tax returns to upload to social media companies and even Google. <[link removed]>

Names, addresses, dates of birth, and even details on who has tax debts and overdue student loans have been handed over to Google, Facebook, and others.

Putting aside the questions about data sovereignty – these companies are based outside of New Zealand and not under New Zealand's legal/privacy jurisdiction –it is almost certainly the worst breach of taxpayer privacy ever seen in this country.

We've spoken to our counterparts in the UK, Canada, and Australia, and this appears this is the worst data leak or privacy breach by a revenue agency in the Commonwealth.

What's worse, the IRD have been trying to downplay and obfuscate. They told Radio NZ that because the data is "hashed" there is nothing to worry about.

Our IT experts say this is absolute nonsense. The whole point of giving the data to Facebook and Google (among others) was for the companies to identify you/taxpayers online and match the data to profile(s).

It is so basic it shouldn't have to be said: taxpayers face prison if they don't give personal information to the IRD. Taxpayers are entitled to expect that information to be held in the strictest confidence.

Literally uploading the information to social media companies (or even using it for "marketing") warrants nothing short of a Ministerial investigation and heads rolling.

To our astonishment IRD are reported as saying that taxpayers cannot "opt-out" of having their information being given away. If that is true, we will need to consider all legal options. We cannot take this one lying down.

Friend, the whole team are working on this. We are still speaking to IT experts, getting legal advice, and (most importantly) advice on how to stop IRD from giving taxpayer information being given to social media companies. 

MONDAY UPDATE: I've just sat down with David Buckingham, whose 'citizen journalist' efforts uncovered what IRD have been doing. The more we learn, the more alarming it becomes. Have a  <[link removed]>listen to my interview with David on our special Podcast episode here. <[link removed]>

I am hopeful that within the next 24 hours we'll be able to give you a more thorough update and advice on how to find out whether your personal information has been leaked.

Keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow...

New Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll: good news for the governing parties 📈📊

Despite what the media might lead you believe, the public are behind Christopher Luxon's Government based on our hot-off-the-press Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll <[link removed]>.

Based on this month's numbers, the Government would maintain a comfortable majority in Parliament if the elections were held today.

National are up one point compared to our last (July) poll, to 39 percent. ACT are down a smudge (0.3 points) to 8.8 percent while New Zealand First are down 0.5 points to 6.8 percent.

Labour are up one point to 27 percent, while the Greens are down 1.5 points to 11.0 percent, and Te Pati Māori up 1.5 points to 5.0 percent.



Translated into seats, this would give the centre-right bloc 67 seats (no change) and the centre-left bloc 53 seats (down 2).

But the real worry for Labour is that Chris Hipkins' support has taken a big hit. Hipkins' net favourability (favourable less unfavourable) has fallen 16 points since July, down to negative 10 percent. By comparison, Luxon's has risen 1 point to positive 7 percent.

And the drop is reflected in people's preferred Prime Minister. Hipkins has dropped 6 points to 13 percent, although Luxon also dropped 2 points to 33 percent.



The full poll results are on our website here <[link removed]>. Or if you're after all the details that the PM and Leader of the Opposition get to see, join our Taxpayers' Caucus for the datasets and correlations. <[link removed]>

Take the hint, Chris... 👀

At risk of doing a OneNews poll "Maiki spin", wise readers of Taxpayer Updatemay conclude that it is no coincidence that the same month Mr Hipkins has been talking about new taxes, his support has nosedived. 👎

Perhaps voters still haven't forgiven the last Government for its six years of wringing them dry with higher taxes, while the quality of spending deteriorated as fast as the quantity ballooned?

Here's a friendly tip for Chris Hipkins: focus on ideas about how to get government spending under control and growing the economy, before you keep talking about the next Labour government taxing New Zealanders even more.

And they've really gone fill tilt. A capital gains tax is one thing, but wealth taxes are such a backwards policy that even make socialists blush. 

Right now, New Zealand is the single worst OECD country at attracting investment (until recently we were only better than Mexico, but even they are now ahead of us).

We need Her Majesty's Opposition to be leading debates on how New Zealand can attract investment, quality jobs, opportunity and growth – not taxes to chase it all away.

Wealth taxes: a sure way to for New Zealand to be poor 😔

<[link removed]>

Writing for Stuff's The Post, Alex pointed out what happened in Europe when wealth taxes were tried.  <[link removed]>

"In France, the tax caused 10,000 people and $35 billion to pack up and leave. Not only that, but the wealth tax cost European countries twice as much in lost VAT (similar to New Zealand's GST). So with Hipkins' proposal, the government can say au revoir to their sales tax take as well."

Countries that have tried wealth taxes have ended up poorer, tax revenue fell, and countries that aren't as interested in economic vandalism are more than happy to scoop up all the jobs looking for someone friendlier.

Come on Chris, you can do better.

But good news from The Post! You're all rich and powerful 🎉🥳🎉

If you missed Alex's opinion piece, that wasn't your only chance to see the Taxpayers' Union in the papers this week.  <[link removed]>

Remember a few weeks ago, we dug out that MBIE had wasted $650,000 on 'white privilege workshops'? Well your humble Taxpayers' Union kept digging, and surprise surprise found more.

Another $300,000 has been pumped into the pockets of something called the Pakeha Project. Bureaucrats at StatisticsNZ, the Ministry of Justice, and - you guessed it - our ol' friends at MBIE have been getting lessons in "questioning the algorithms of whiteness that discipline our world.'

And guess who's paying for it all? You the taxpayer.

<[link removed]>

Rather than spend your tax money on quaint old fashioned things like government services, these departments are pumping straight into a string of woke organisations no one has ever heard of.

Naturally, the Pakeha Project slung some mud back after we exposed their grift, saying we at the Taxpayers' Union'only represented a tiny percent of taxpayers who had a lot of power and money' <[link removed]>.

So good news! Apparently, being one of the 200,000 taxpayers who receive our updates, you're in the money! Congrats .

We still say these pointless workshops are a waste of taxpayers' money, and they're well past due to be scrapped. Sign the petition here to get bureaucrats out of these "white privilege" workshops and back at their desks. <[link removed]>

MFAT's failing grade for spending cuts 📚💰

The culture of waste goes much deeper than that though, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been in the spotlight this week.

It emerged that Foreign Minister Winston Peters had been personally lobbying the PM to avoid cuts, making out that there was no way to find savings without closing down a couple of embassies. MFAT's savings total the grand sum of less than one percent of its budget.

Back in May, we called out MFAT's simple tech projects massive budget blowout, which more than doubled the cost to $33 million. This week, our researchers also rooted out that MFAT has once again spent $5 million on private school fees for diplomats' kids – often in countries with public education systems better than New Zealand's own schools!

There's no shortage of people queueing up to be diplomats. MFAT aren't going to face a recruitment problem if they scrap some of their gold-plated perks.



Why, when our education standards are plummeting, are we paying for the silver-spooned families of diplomats to swan around in swanky overseas boarding schools?

Fees in the USA, UK, Australia, and Belgium alone totalled over $1.25 million dollars. Let us know what you think.

Wellington's Metlink wasteful spending has a bad smell about it 💲🚽🤢

If you thought MFAT were bad for flushing money down the drain, Wellington's always there to show you that things could be worse.

Austin dug out Wellington's transport agency Metlink's latest gold-plated project: building just seven toilets for their drivers, costing whopping $1.3 million dollars. That's $185,000 per loo!



No one's saying drivers don't need the loo, but as David Farrar pointed out over on Kiwiblog, <[link removed]> companies offer commercial toilet blocks for less than a ninth of that cost. The question is, why does every simple project in the capital seem to cost an arm and a leg?

Talk about taking the... errr, let's not go there.

MP's in Depth: David MacLeod 🎙️

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Just before he took off, Connor sat down with National Party MP David MacLeod <[link removed]> as part of our Taxpayer Talk: MPs in Depth series.

David is the MP for New Plymouth and was elected at the 2023 general election. He spent 22 years on Taranaki Regional Council, including 15 years as the Chair. he has also been a director of some significant organisations including Port Taranaki, Fonterra and Predator Free 2050. Early in his career, David was an electrician and eventually took over the company he worked for and grew it to more than 100 tradespeople.

In his podcast, we explore what drives David, why he wanted to become an MP, and what he hopes to achieve during his time in Parliament.

Listen to the episode on our website <[link removed]> | Apple Podcasts <[link removed]> | Spotify <[link removed]> | iHeart Radio <[link removed]>

Thanks for your support.


Jordan Williams
Executive Director
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

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In the Media:


Kiwiblog$1.35 million for private toilets for bus drivers <[link removed]>

Northland Age Ratepayers’ money in spotlight (print only)

NewstalkZBThe Huddle: Is Wellington really dying? <[link removed]>

The PlatformTony Randle on Wellington City Council’s struggles <[link removed]>

The Post, Waikato Times Labour trying to breathe life into a tax plan that deserves to die <[link removed]>

The SpinoffThe epic, thrilling, ridiculous story of The Spinoff’s first 10 years <[link removed]>

RNZIRD backtracks on technique used to anonymise personal details <[link removed]>

TV: Three News 6pm, item 4 – IRD data leak

NewstalkZB Wellington 8am bulletin – Metlink $1.3 million toilets <[link removed]>

Sunday Star Times, The Post Further $300,000 spending revealed on ‘gravy train’ workshops <[link removed]>

New Zealand Taxpayers' Union Inc. · 117 Lambton Quay, Level 4, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
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