Dear Friend,

I write at the end of what has been one the most successful days in the history of the Taxpayers' Union.

As mayors and councillors were inside the LGNZ Conference today in Christchurch, voting to fight a cap on rates, the Taxpayers’ Union was outside leading the charge on behalf of ratepayers.

And we're winning, Friend!

You may have heard all over the Newstalk ZB bulletins that we've now got Simon Watts to agree to precisely what tens of thousands of our supporters have been calling for: the capping of Council Rates to inflation – and without delay.

Taking the message to LGNZ 📢

At 4:30 this morning we unveiled our Big Beautiful enormous 'CAP RATES NOW' truck and parked it right outside the Local Government New Zealand conference in Christchurch.

It had precisely the effect we wanted.

Council leaders from across the country trundled past in disgust at our 20m long sign-written beauty (and they all knew about Sam's online Rates Dashboard) highlighting the worst offenders who have hiked rates three, four, and five times the level of inflation.

LGNZ vote 82% in favour of using ratepayer funds to oppose Rates Cap 🤯

Despite the ratepayer backlash to LGNZ's proposal to campaign against rates capping, LGNZ members voted 82% in favour of proceeding with a campaign against the Taxpayers' Union and the Government wanting to introduce a cap. 

LGNZ barred us from the closed door meeting – but we are reliably informed that Nelson Mayor Nick Smith and Waitomo Mayor John Robertson spoke passionately against LGNZ using ratepayer money to, well, run a political campaign against ratepayers.

But Mayors Smith and Robertson were defeated. Just before our rally we learned that LGNZ had officially declared war on rates capping.

Canterbury ratepayers show out in force 🪧

You can watch our rally here – my speech on how council costs are out of control, and Reasonable Rates Ruth (Taxpayers' Union Chair, Ruth Richardson) gave a summary of why rates caps are needed.

Then came the big moment: Minister Simon Watts commits to 'Cap Rates Now' (i.e. in time for Christmas)

Rushing in from a delayed flight into Christchurch, the Local Government Minister arrived – and despite being needed on stage in the conference, he chose to speak first to our supporters before heading inside.

On the back of our "Cap Rates Now" ute, Minister Watts gave a barnstorming speech where he told our supporters he intends to Cap Rates "definitely before Christmas".

Newstalk ZB picked up our social media snippets of the speech – noticing the same point we did: earlier comments from Mr Watts were supportive of rates capping at some (undetermined) time in the future. What made today significant, was Mr Watts' shift to Cap Rates Now – before councils have the chance to hike them yet again. 

Watts shines brightly 🌟

Regular readers will know, that the Taxpayers' Union and Simon Watts, errrr, haven't always seen eye-to-eye in recent months. 👀

But make no mistake, as much as LGNZ are trying to undermine the Government, on rates capping Simon Watts is on our page.

And he has the backing of his colleagues, and his boss.

LGNZ eat your heart out! 🙊

And the local government wins keep on coming ✅ ✅ ✅

As you know, Friend, getting local government back under control isn't just about the rates.

We must improve transparency, democratic accountability and quality of governance. This was all detailed in our recent local government briefing paper: Building Better Councils.

In the last 24 hours, Simon Watts' new proposed amendments to the Local Government Act were released – and while there is still some devil in the detail to work through, and we haven't yet got everything we're seeking – the Bill is full of significant victories for ratepayers around transparency and accountability.

For example, we've won on our campaign for much better benchmarking and improving elected officials' rights to access information (refer to my speech, above). Friend, we started working on that policy – and even drafted legislation – back in 2014!

You can read Simon Watts' new Bill in full here.

What's next? 🙌

The LGNZ conference continues into tonight and through tomorrow. LGNZ will be figuring out how to derail Simon Watts, and protect their patch. The work isn't over until the policy has been delivered.

And it's fair to say I'm not the most popular person in the room inside the conference (with just a few exceptions).

But I wear it with a badge of honour. Today was one of the most enjoyable days I've had in my 12 years at the Taxpayers' Union.

And, like in any job, if you're having fun then you're probably winning! 😊

Thank you for making it all possible, 

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Ps. Our enormous truck was made possible by a few dozen particularly generous donors who we shared the idea with and were willing to back us. Wins like today are only made possible by supporters who chip in. To make a confidential donation and back our efforts to fix local government, click here.