Watts
comes good? What happened at the Beehive when we visited the Minister
for Local Government 🤝
Yesterday,
Jordan, James, and the Board headed down to the Beehive for our
long-awaited meeting with Minister for Local Government, Simon
Watts.
We know we
have him saying the right things about 'rates capping'. But we need
him talking about doing it now, not years down the
track.
Here's our
concern, : if you
tell a monopoly industry (i.e. local councils) that a price freeze /
cap is coming, but not until after they are allowed to put their
prices up, what do you think is going to happen?
Unless we
Cap Rates Now, councils across the country are going to use
next year to dramatically hike rates before Mr Watts swings into
action...
I'm
reliably informed that our new Chair, Ruth
Richardson, gave it to the Minister with both barrels -
emphasising the Now of our Cap Rates Now! argument. 👀
Jack Tame
got the brunt of the same...
Watts says
he needs more support to cap rates! 💥
Ruth told
Mr Watts, that rates capping isn't just good policy, it's good
politics. Hear, hear!
Simon Watts
assured us that he wants to find the right form of rates capping, and
deliver it before
councils can sneak in one last rates-hike
splurge.
But Simon Watts emphasised
that it's hard to take-on local government when even some of the
so-called 'centre-right' mayors are against rates
capping...
(The
Minister didn't name names, but we are looking at you, Wayne
Brown!).
So the
campaign continues, Friend. What Mr Watts needs, is for rates capping
to be front and centre at this year's local body elections, so that it
becomes a fait accompli for the Government and Mr Watts'
Cabinet colleagues.
Friend, we
made sure Three Waters was the main issue of the last local body
elections – with your support, we'll make sure Cap Rates Now is the
main issue for 2025. 🙏
ACT take
on council climate theatrics 🎭🌏
ACT are
entering the council Ratepayer Hero race early this
year. We're giving a big thumbs up to their new commitment for their
local council candidates to oppose council-level emissions
policies.
Costly council
climate change strategies do nothing to cut emissions, which are dealt
with at the national level. In fact, burning ratepayers’ money to cut
emissions in one local area simply frees up emissions under the New
Zealand-wide cap-and-trade ETS for emissions to be used else
where.
It's
ratepayer pain for absolutely no environmental gain!
It
shouldn't be controversial that Councils should stick to what actually
matters: roads, pipes, and rubbish. It's nice to see "ACT Local"
saying it.
Taxpayers Fork Out $400k for Snail Sanctuary
🐌💸
In what can
only be described as a snail-paced waste of taxpayer money,
the Taxpayers' Union can reveal that the Department of
Conservation has shelled out more than $400,000 to protect (i.e.
literally store in refrigerators!) a bunch of endangered snails.
That's right – snails.
You can
read more over
on our website, or the Radio
NZ coverage.
The Greens' 'Fiscal Strategy' is a fantasy land of red ink, tax,
and state-controlled economy 🦄
Here at the
Taxpayers' Union, we expected to welcome the Green Party's attempt to
get serious about the Government's fiscal and economic
challenges.
But gone
are the days of James Shaw's attempt to make the Greens
semi-respectable when it comes to economics.
Our team
worked through the Green's new "Fiscal
Strategy 2025" and felt sick. Forget 'free enterprise', the Greens
want to lean into state control like the Cold War never
happened.
Instead of promoting responsible fiscal
management, the Greens are proposing a system where there’s no limit
to how much taxpayers would be expected to cough up for every
government whim:
- Wealth taxes ✅
- Death taxes ✅
- Capital gains taxes
✅
-
Doubling the national debt
✅
Doesn't
look very green or sustainable; in fact it looks a very deep
red.
The work
doesn't stop at rates capping 👷👔
Last
week, our Head of Policy (James) and Investigations Coordinator (Rhys)
were invited to consult with the Local Government Commission on
reforming council codes of conduct.
We
jumped at the chance to prevent another Cr Grace Ayling fiasco, when
she was literally banned
from voting on her own council’s long-term plan because (shock-horror)
she’d already advocated *against* hefty rate hikes. The council
insisted that Grace had to have an 'open-mind' even though she was
elected on a mandate to trim council excess.
(Disclosure: Grace is a former Taxpayers’ Union
staffer)
James
and Rhys seized the chance to finally break through council
bureaucrats’ ability to exclude elected councillors (like Grace) as
well as a laundry list of transparency reforms, and our long-held view
that recall elections should be introduced at local council level to
enhance democratic accountability.
Friend, rates capping is just the first step to
fixing local government, so we make no apology for putting time and
effort into other policy work to fix local
government.
If
you made it this far... 🙂
As I sign
off my first newsletter as the new Taxpayers' Union Comms Manager,
I
wanted to say a thank you for making the work possible.
This is my
eighth week at the Taxpayers' Union (and in New Zealand, for that
matter!), and I'm already in awe of the disproportional impact this
small but very agile team has on influencing conversations (and
policy) at the Beehive and town halls across the country.
Thank you for your support.
 |
Tory Relf
New
Zealand Taxpayers’ Union
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