Dear Supporter,

Labour's conference announcements costly for taxpayers



The theme of the weekend's Labour Party conference: borrow and spend.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson has abandoned his party's pre-election "Budget Responsibility Rules" and signaled he is ready to borrow <[link removed]> billions more for infrastructure projects.

Let's be clear: there is nothing wrong with spending money on infrastructure.

However, this doesn't need to be funded by borrowing. A responsible Finance Minister would identify and cut wasteful spending before lumping future taxpayers with debt.

And secondly, any infrastructure spending should be targeted toward areas of greatest need.

Money sprayed at schools regardless of need

The keynote spending announcement from the weekend was $396 million divided up between almost every school in the country <[link removed]>.

Taxpayers employ 1,785 officials at theMinistry of Education. We pay these officials to work out things like how to target education spending.

Yet for the latest spend-up, the Government didn't bother asking these officials which schools actually need it. The Prime Minister just divvied the funds up so she could announce "money for all schools".

This means gleaming new schools will receive new funds at the expense of schools that are falling apart.

This is not how taxpayer money should be spent. This is lazy, wasteful, and frankly embarrassing for a party with all the resources of government.

Next Wednesday, I will be attending the Government's half-year fiscal update, where the Grant Robertson is expected to make further spending announcements. We can't say we're optimistic about their value.

Yet another tax hike



The days of the Government's promises of 'no new taxes' are long gone, with Eugenie Sage announcing plans to lift landfill levies <[link removed]> from the current $10 per tonne to $60 per tonne by 2023. 

If it brings in the forecast $220 million, that’s a tax hike of $120 per Kiwi household, per year. And that's on average – a disproportionate cost will fall on large households in the country’s poorest suburbs.

Earlier this year, the Tax Working Grouppointed out that increasing the rubbish tax would cause a spike in illegal dumping. Even the Green Party should agree that it’s better for old mattresses to end up in the tip than dumped on the road or riverside.

Skin care company, Southland manufacturers disgracefully accept corporate welfare



Last week was busy on the corporate welfare front, with Shane Jones announcing taxpayer handouts for a Manawatu skin care company <[link removed]>, plus a number of Southland engineering businesses <[link removed]>.

'The Herb Farm' is supposedly ‘a globally successful skin-care brand’ with growing demand. So why does it need $261,000 from taxpayers? It appears to be accepting unnecessary corporate welfare just because Shane Jones has offered it. This is disgraceful.

The same goes for the likes of boat manufacturer Stabicraft, which received $225,000. This isn't just wasteful, it's unfair to these companies' competitors, who operate without special favours.

A secretive start for new Christchurch City Council CEO



New Christchurch City Council CEO Dawn Baxendale received a $30,000 allowance for her relocation from the United Kingdom – but she refuses to disclose how the money was spent. <[link removed]>

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Council was slammed by the Chief Ombudsman for manipulating reports and obscuring bad news from the public. This is clearly an organisation in desperate need of transparency from the top down, but Ms Baxendale has failed at one of her first tests.

Ratepayers are funding Baxendale's salary of nearly half a million dollars per year. It’s not unreasonable to ask whether the extra $30,000 for relocating was actually used for that, or whether it’s an excuse for another cash perk.

Taxpayer-funded charities should be subject to official information laws



Adamning report <[link removed]> has revealed blowouts on travel and dining at the taxpayer-funded Hepatitis Foundation by its board chair, Chris Cunningham.

We were lucky to see Charities Services investigate this case, but we cannot always rely on the regulator. Taxpayers deserve to discover for themselves if their earnings are being blown on fine dining and extended overseas junkets.

One way to achieve this would be to open up charities to the Official Information Act if they receive a certain proportion of their funding (say, two thirds) from taxpayers. If that was the case at the Hepatitis Foundation, wecould have monitored its spending directly, and potentially saved taxpayers a costly investigation by Charities Services.

We're currently pursuing a tip-off related to serious financial mismanagement at another taxpayer-funded charity, so watch this space.

Should 'full time' councillors have full time side gigs?



You might have read about Wellington City Councillors voting for a 28 per cent increase in their base salaries <[link removed]>, up to $111,000 a year.

Well, for some councillors this apparently still isn't enough.

The Herald reports on the case of councillors double-dipping with second jobs. <[link removed]>

The Herald's coverage comes as a result of us highlighting the case of Iona Pannett. She’s paid by ratepayers for the full-time job of being a City Councillor, while also collecting a second sizeable salary as CEO of Birthright NZ.

Ratepayers forking out for Cr Pannett’s full-time salary should expect her to be engaged in the role, not moonlighting for 30 hours a week running a nationwide NGO.

To make things worse, Birthright is largely taxpayer-funded, meaning Cr Pannett drinks from two public gravy pots at once.

Parliament's $500,000 slide



When it was revealed that the new slide on the lawn of Parliament cost taxpayers $500,000, our mascott, Porky the Waste-hater, decided to visit and get his money's worth.



And who's that eating sushi in the background? None other than Deputy Speaker Anne Tolley and Speaker Trevor Mallard – the masterminds behind the project!

Here's a shot of Trevor trying to avoid eye contact with Porky...



Have a great week,


Louis Houlbrooke
Communications Officer
New Zealand Taxpayers' Union

<[link removed]>

Media coverage: <[link removed]> <[link removed]>

Homepaddock  Cash spray BAU <[link removed]>

NZ Herald  How much is too much? Councillors and their second jobs <[link removed]>

The Dominion Post  Keeping NZ beautiful is fine - keeping the world turning is better <[link removed]>

Homepaddock  Waste tax starting at wrong end <[link removed]>

Point of OrderHumming Herb Farm business gets $216,000 of nurturing from taxpayers through the PGF <[link removed]>

The Press  Christchurch community housing project gets ratepayer money <[link removed]>

RNZ  National landfill levy. How much should we be paying? <[link removed]>

The Weekend Sun  The 2019 ratepayers’ report <[link removed]>

Stuff  Landfill levies could rise in Govt bid to urge people to recycle <[link removed]>

Point of Order  ActionStation says it accepts no govt money – but who came up with $15,000 of the readies for a grant from Netsafe? <[link removed]>





-=-=-
New Zealand Taxpayers' Union Inc. - 117 Lambton Quay, Level 4, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
This email was sent to [email protected]. To stop receiving emails: [link removed]
-=-=-

Created with NationBuilder - [link removed]