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A lot to cover this week: we expose yet another Government department's wasteful spending and #FactCheck Radio NZ on its [dis]reporting of a poll.

And, we reveal November's Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll <[link removed]>.

But first, what happens when you threaten to expose MPs' spending rorts?

Parliament hits the panic stations, but eventually accepts 'Open the Books' submissions 🔥🚨

Last week we asked supporters to back our campaign to Open the Books at Parliament and bring MPs' spending into line with Ministerial spending and open to the public.

We were delighted that 18,397 of you backed the campaign and made a submission at OpenTheBooks.nz in just five days.

Plus, more than 200 have asked to present orally to the Select Committee and ask MPs to their faces why they think taxpayer-funded expenses should remain hidden. 

It wasn't smooth sailing, first Parliament banned email submissions, so we printed them out to take down to Parliament. It took five of us to carry them all, and stacked up they were taller than Jordan. 

<[link removed]>Watch the video over on Facebook. <[link removed]>

Suddenly (when it looked like they might have to do some work!) the Select Committee Officials were very happy to accept a digital copy of the responses after all. What a surprise!

This fight's not yet won, but if the reaction by MPs is anything to go by, we have certainly made a splash.

Yoga retreats and vegan platters? Stick it on the taxpayers' tab 😂🧘🥕

MPs aren't the only ones living it large on the taxpayer tab. In just six years, bureaucrats at the Ministry for the Environment blew north of $2 million on staff retreats, planning summits, and team-building workshops. 

Now we're all for team building here at the Taxpayers' Union, but what's wrong with a quick round or two of minigolf? At the Ministry, it seems putt-putt golf has been replaced with golf resorts – at least in terms of budget...

Back in 2018/19, the budget for staff jollies, sorry, training was $98,000. But by 2022/23 the figure blew out to more than $822,000. That's an eight-fold increase in just five years.



Right now, Ministers are readying their 'budget bids' (and nominations for saving money) as part of the annual budget process. No prizes for guessing a department we will be nominating for a haircut...

Media not giving context: Those "nasty cuts" you heard about on RNZ? More like paper cuts actually... 📝✂️

With more than 18,000 extra bureaucrats hired over the six years of the last Government, there's plenty of scope for the Government to cut spending and reallocate resources to front-line services.

The Department of Internal Affairs has listened to the Ministers' calls and decided to make some cuts in its latest reshuffle. 

The public sector unions and the media are upset about a restructure that results in a net reduction [checks notes] of just 17 jobs! <[link removed]>

But they fail to give you the context: in the five years to June, the same agency increased their staff count by 477 roles. 🤦

Radio NZ #FactCheck – Do 65% of Kiwis really support a Capital Gains Tax? 🗞️

Last week, the IPSOS Issues Monitor survey results were released, including on whether New Zealand voters want some form of capital gains tax. 

We raised our eyebrows when we heard Radio NZ's Guyon Espiner putting it to Prime Minister Luxon that "recent polling showing [that] a majority supported a capital gains tax".

Here's the write-up that got us thinking:



That certainly doesn't match the polling we've had conducted. So we did an investigation of what was behind Radio NZ's claim.

If you don't like the answer, change the question... 👀

It's actually quite clever, albeit extremely misleading. Because Radio NZ can't find a poll to back their campaign in support ofreporting on introducing a Capital Gains Tax that supports their "unbiased" position, they've combined the number of voters who supported any particular kind of tax on capital gains!

So they asked in the poll whether the voter supported introducing a capital gains tax on:

(a) investment property;

(b) the sale of a business;

(c) the sale of other assets; or

(d) the sale of the family home

Radio NZ then summated the responses (i.e. you only needed to support just one to count as supporting 'a capital gains tax') to produce a highly misleading claim that "two-thirds" of voters support a capital gains tax!

The question is also highly misleading.  Because of the bright-line test, a capital gains tax already applies for investment properties bought and sold within a defined timeframe,property bought with an intention to sell it, and for those who deal in property.

Let's apply Radio NZ's methodology 😂

As ever, your humble Taxpayers' Union strives to be helpful to our friends in the media. Let's look again at those poll results:

57% support a CGT on investment property.

43% support it on the sale of a business.

22% for the sale of other assets.

Only 13% support a CGT on the sale of a family home.

In the same way Radio NZ interpreted the above, they could just as easily run the line to Mr Luxon that "recent polling shows that 90 percent of Kiwis oppose a capital gains tax"!



And by the way...

Just to break the media narrative further, our own polling shows that only 29 percent – less than one in three Kiwis – wants to see a capital gains tax increase the overall tax burden. Even those who do want a capital gains tax want to see other taxes cut or abolished to compensate.

Very clearly, the takeaway from this is that the vast majority of Kiwis think they're already taxed enough. It would be nice if the media reflected it.

BREAKING: New Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll: National bounce back, but Labour keep climbing 📉📊

This month's exclusive Taxpayers'' Union-Curia Poll is here. <[link removed]>

National is up 3.9 points from October to 38.8 percent while Labour is up 1.2 points to 31.5 percent. The Greens are down 1.1 points to 9.3 percent, while ACT are down to 8.5 percent (-1.2 points). New Zealand First is down 1.1 points to 6.5 percent while Te Pāti Māori is down 0.5 points to 2.5 percent.



Translating this into seats, National is up four seats on last month to 48 while Labour is up one seat to 39.

The Greens are down two to 11 while ACT is down one on last month to 11 seats. New Zealand First is down one on last month to 8 while Te Pāti Māori is unchanged on 6.



On these numbers, the current coalition would be able to form a Government with 67 seats, compared to the Centre-Left bloc's 56.

As a follow-up to last month's release of our "Major Voting Issue - Top 3" results, there's been a major swing this month.



37.9 percent of respondents named the Cost of Living as one of their top three issues.  However, Health fell 8.1 points down to 27.4 percent, putting it in third place behind Economy more generally at 31.1 percent.

See the results, including preferred Prime Minister, on our website here. <[link removed]>

Your Taxpayers' Union needs you! 🫵🥸

The team here in Wellington are like truffling pigs, digging through the Government's books rooting out all the waste we can find. Some of the biggest stories we've broken over the years have come from you guys.

If you have a tip you'd like to share with us, we want to know about it! <[link removed]>

<[link removed]>

Our tipline is completely anonymous. But the work we do here wouldn't be possible without the help of people tipping us off to the worst excesses of waste in Wellington.

So if you're reading this and have any info to share, just point us in the right direction and we'll bring the waste to light. Happy hunting!

That's all for this week, on to the next one! <[link removed]>


James Ross
Policy and Public Affairs Manager
New Zealand Taxpayers' Union

<[link removed]>

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Interest, Pundit Our thousand-year struggle over technology and prosperity <[link removed]>

KiwiblogDid we pay for Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to go to Hawaii? <[link removed]>

The PlatformJordan Williams on why MPs’ expenses should be made public <[link removed]>

KiwiblogThe left hate grassroots organisations that they don’t own <[link removed]>

ACT Press ReleasePublic servants should use cheaper taxi options <[link removed]>

RNZ IRD to stop sharing taxpayers’ details with social media platforms following backlash <[link removed]>

KiwiblogTaxpayers pay $575 per e-mail <[link removed]>

The PlatformTodd Stephenson on public servants taking expensive taxis <[link removed]>

MSNIRD to stop sharing taxpayers’ details with social media platforms following backlash <[link removed]>

RNZ Privacy experts ‘shocked’ IRD had no idea it breached privacy <[link removed]>

The PostRevenue Minister disappointed with Inland Revenue over privacy breach <[link removed]>

SunliveIRD under fire for taxpayer data leak to Meta <[link removed]>

NewstalkZBThe Huddle: What do we think of the US election results? <[link removed]>

KiwiblogA tale of two Mayors <[link removed]>

RNZ, The HeraldAuckland Council criticised over million-dollar Christmas tree for lower Queen St <[link removed]>

Waikato TimesTe Aroha locals baffled by council land purchase <[link removed]>

Waikato Times An appetite for amalgamation – what do the experts think? <[link removed]>

The PlatformSam Warren on Auckland’s $1.3 million Christmas Tree <[link removed]>

RNZCrown Observer appointed to Wellington City Council <[link removed]>

The PressChristmas cheer cheaper in greater Christchurch <[link removed]>

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