Dear Supporter,

Revealed: The “Rich List” of public sector CEOs

Yesterday we released the "Rich List" of taxpayer-funded CEOs. The Rich List ranks all the core Crown CEOs by salary.

Together, these 140 individuals cost taxpayers $62 million in the last year. And 53 of them are paid more than the Prime Minister.

Here are the top 10:

--> Click here to view the full Rich List <--

The average public sector CEO is paid $443,950. With poverty on the rise, and so many families struggling with the cost of living, this is eye watering.

Many of these CEOs make major decisions about services that impact millions of taxpayers' lives. Shining a light on their salaries helps to promote accountability and transparency at the highest level.

While some of these salaries can be justified, others are totally out of whack. For example, many mid-ranking Rich Listers lead obscure agencies that most New Zealanders wouldn't have heard of and which generate little value for taxpayers.

Who has heard of New Zealand Food Innovation? Its boss, Alexandra Allan, is paid a salary of $327,000.

Then there's Victoria Crone of Callaghan Innovation: she takes home a cool half a million for running the corporate welfare agency. That’s even more than the Director-General of Health and is totally unjustified.

Our Executive Director, Jordan, joined Heather du-Plessis Allan to go over the list. The project was also discussed by The Panel on RNZ.

But what about local government?

The Rich List covers CEOs funded by the central government.

Until now, pay rates were only ever revealed as broad salary 'bands'. We've been able to get the precise amounts to rank these individuals thanks to assistance from the Ombudsman and the State Services Commission. 

We're proud of our Rich List, but taxpayers deserve more. What about the small army of second tier staff earning more than $250,000? And what about local government?

Local councils have not been co-operative in releasing salary figures. Despite this, we are making progress, and with the Ombudsman's help we plan to release a Local Government Rich List next year.

Taxpayer TV: Why the government can't spend money as well as you can

Why does the government spend our money so badly? On Taxpayer TV, Islay argues there are two reasons: the government has bad incentives and bad information.

Click the images below to watch the two latest episodes on Youtube.

Click here to comment or share on Facebook.

Click here to comment or share on Facebook.

Education spend-up bodes badly for election-year spending

Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced a massive $12 billion spend-up on infrastructure, meaning taxpayers will see an election-year deficit.

So is it worth going into debt for the sake of infrastructure? That depends on the quality of the spending, and we are not optimistic.

Take last weekend's education spend-up. Our Executive Director Jordan Williams has an NZ Herald op-ed that recaps:

It appears no one in Labour bothered to ask the 1785 bureaucrats who work at the Ministry of Education's head office in Wellington how to target the spending so those schools falling apart are the ones which benefit. Even with $400 million, the taxpayer dollar can only go so far.

Ultimately the "everyone gets a dollop" approach means those schools that desperately need redevelopment miss out.

Child Poverty Figures show need for tax relief

This week's child poverty figures, which suggest nearly 150,000 Kiwi children are living in material hardship, show the need for tax relief.

It is disturbing that the current tax burden on low income families means that even kids with parents in full time work are experiencing poverty.

Many measures being introduced by this Government such as higher fuel taxes, higher taxes on cigarettes, higher waste levies on garbage, and hiked rates bills across the country, have a disproportionate effect on the poor.

You can’t kneecap family budgets with new and higher taxes, and expect poverty figures to improve. Tax relief is needed, and for tens of thousands of families, it's needed right now.

Have a great weekend,

Louis Houlbrooke Communications Officer New Zealand Taxpayers' Union