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 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 Group pointed 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, plus a number of Southland engineering businesses.

'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.
 
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

A damning report 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, we could 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, 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.

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