Dear Supporter,

Pay back the money, Rio Tinto

This morning it was announced that Rio Tinto plans to close operations at its Tiwai Point smelter near Invercargill.

This comes after Rio Tinto received a $30 million bailout from taxpayers in 2013 to “future proof” the New Zealand operation. Now that the smelter is closing anyway, it's time to pay the money back.

Globally, Rio Tinto brings in more than $40 billion in revenue each year. Paying back the bailout would cost them less than 0.1% of that.

Our politicians need to send this message. We risk becoming seen as a soft touch by foreign corporations who think they can ‘take the money and run’.

'Aroha' posters deemed to be political ads for Labour

The Electoral Commission has now confirmed to us that the 'aroha' posters of Jacinda Ardern do indeed constitute unauthorised party advertisements for Labour.

This judgment comes after we laid a complaint. The Commission's response to the Union can be viewed here.

We're pleased to have clarity on this. As we explained to Stuff, the Taxpayers' Union is forced to comply with strict rules around political advertising, especially in the lead-up to an election. It's a matter of democratic integrity that these rules are applied equally, regardless of a campaigner's political slant.

The artists (Weston Frizzell) are now required to take 'corrective action', and if the Commission is not satisfied with this action, it has the power to refer the advertiser to the Police.

Wealth tax = envy tax

The wealth tax proposed by the Green Party would be a disastrous idea at any time – but especially during an economic recession. The only real winners would be tax accountants.

Click here to watch Islay's video on the topic:

On KiwiBlog, our new Economist, Karan Menon, goes into more depth:

With the economic ruin of COVID-19, capital investment is required more than ever. A wealth tax would see much needed capital investments disappear. Economists call this ‘capital flight’. This would be especially painful right now, where money supply is increasingly unresponsive to decreases in interest rates. We want wealthy investors coming into New Zealand – not to chase them away. We want the James Camerons of the world to choose to live (and invest) here – so their skills and capital can rebuild our economy and create jobs. 

Taxpayer victory! David Clark resigns

It's taken a while, but after 2,800 people signed our petition calling for the Health Minister to be sacked, he has finally got the message.

We had to laugh when we saw that the resignation – and our petition – was even covered by Russian state-owned media!

David Clark failed to justify his $296,000 taxpayer-funded salary. He was basically absent from the public eye during a global pandemic, with Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield fronting the media each day.
 
'Cometh the hour, cometh the man' sadly never applied to our Health Minister.

National's mystery man needs to front up

National Leader Todd Muller claims that his missing-in-action MP Jian Yang is a “man who is delivering great value”.

This comes after it was reported he has spent two years refusing to talk to English-language media.

Maybe Jian Yang is delivering taxpayers value, but if he won’t front to media, how will we ever know?

Sitting on a tidy $179,000 salary, the least he can do is answer a few questions from the press gallery. We'd be especially interested in learning about his background in China, where he trained Communist Party spies.

Taxpayers pay for MPs. It's not unreasonable to ask them to front up.

Fuel tax goes up, and Labour's slogan is what?

In the same week the Government increased fuel taxes for the third year in a row, Labour announced their new slogan for the election: "Let's keep moving".

Perhaps they're planning an ad campaign like this:

During a recession, this tax hike sabotages the country’s recovery efforts. It disproportionately hits low-income commuters, it discourages regional tourism, and it increases the cost of all types of goods. 

For the record, here's how much of your petrol bill is now tax:

The worst part: the justification for this tax was that it was meant to pay for Phil Twyford's light rail tram in Auckland. Now that he's shelved the tram until after the election, why is the Government still plowing ahead with higher taxes?

That reminds me, here's another suggestion for Labour's campaign team:

Finally, a tax is frozen

ACC Minister Ian Lees-Galloway has announced the Government will freeze ACC levies for two years.

That's a good move. An economic crisis is the worst time to increase tax.

But we'd like to see this principle applied to other taxes. Income taxes continue to increase as inflation pushes earners into higher tax brackets. That needs to be fixed. Then there are fuel taxes and road user charges. And what about council rates?

On that note...

A second local council cuts rates

First it was Horowhenua District Council, now Taupo District Council becomes the second in the country to cut rates in response to COVID-19 hardships.

This is what leadership looks like. It will require some difficult cuts to planned spending, but it's a sensible response to the sacrifices made by families who lost livelihoods during the lockdown.

We're sending our congratulations to the councillors who made it happen – and continuing to lobby councils that are planning to increase rates this year.

All the best,

Louis Houlbrooke Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers' Union