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Hi
Friend,
It's
Halloween today, but rather than 'trick or treat', we explain how
Chris Hipkins has doubled down two tricks and no treats. 😤
Also in
this week's Taxpayer Update, we uncover an $82,000 knees up,
sorry, 'awards
ceremony' to celebrate a string of beads on a wall, and (checks
notes) a broom. We
also highlight yet more eye-wateringly expensive Resource Management
Act taxes. Oh, and we need to talk about Air New Zealand – the company
that taxpayers bailed out in 2001 and then again 20 years later – and
their new lobbying effort for permanent subsidies.
Let's get
into it.
This Halloween, inflation isn’t the monster –
Labour’s plan to tax it is 🎃
The main
political news has been Labour's so-called "targeted" capital gains
tax.
After
promising in 2023 not to bring in any new taxes, Mr Hipkins has dug up
from the grave many of the bad features of Sir Michael Cullen's Tax
Working Group that even Dame Jacinda Ardern ensured was dead and
buried.
Hipkins
says this version is "fair" and "targeted". But peel off the mask and
it’s a monster of a policy that punishes ordinary New Zealanders for
inflation, not profit.
Thanks to the support of hundreds of online
donations, newspapers across the country today are setting out the
impact of Labour's new tax:
 Click
here to see a high res version.
Recidivist
spooker... 👻 Can Hipkins be trusted not to expand his new tax? 💀
Last time
Labour were in Opposition, they promised “no new taxes”. Then came the
Auckland fuel tax, the ute tax, the visitor levy, the Amazon tax,
three petrol excise hikes, and a bright-line extension that dragged in
thousands of ordinary homeowners.
If a Party that swore off new taxes created six
of them anyway once in Government, can we trust Labour not to expand
this one? 🤔
A
"fair" capital gains tax? Yeah right! 🤣
 As we exposed this week, more than
half of all house price growth over the past decade has been pure
inflation. That’s imaginary gains, not real wealth. Yet Labour plans
to tax those phantom "gains" at 28 percent! That means Kiwis
could sell a property for the same real value they bought it for and
still get hit with a massive tax bill.
And small
business owners won’t escape either. Mechanics, cafés, and butchers
who sell one premises to buy another will be caught too, thanks to
Labour’s refusal to allow full rollover relief. It’s a tax on
investment and growth, not fairness.
Earlier
today we released our latest briefing paper which tackles Labour's
false claims: Why
Labour's capital gains tax fails the fairness test
What about
the “treat”? Three free taxpayer-funded GP visits – if you
can get an appointment while you're still sick... 🤡
Labour say
they'll use the money to pay for three GP visits for every New
Zealander.
So on
Wednesday I had one of our Researchers, Ella, call a random list of GP
clinics across the country to see whether the issue is one of
affordability, or accessibility and workforce.
Our
spot audit found that one in seven GP clinics can’t offer an
appointment for four weeks!
Ella found
the average wait time for the next appointment is more than a week
(6.4 working days).
Free, sorry, taxpayer-funded visits don’t mean much if you can’t
get through the door while you're sick!
Labour's
policy feels more like a cheap political gimmick to justify a new tax
than a serious health solution.
Free GP
visits are meaningless if the doctor can’t see you until Christmas.
People aren’t asking for a new tax-funded bureaucracy, just to see a
doctor before their condition gets worse. You
can read my comments to the media here or have
a listen to Heather du Plessis-Allan on our findings
here.
Travel news – Air New Zealand announces
new destination: your pocket! ✈️💰
While most
Kiwis are tightening their belts, Air New Zealand’s new boss has been
doing the media rounds arguing for taxpayer subsidies for domestic
flights.
Speaking to
Radio NZ, Air NZ’s new CEO Nikhil Ravishankar said some regional
routes need what he calls a “situational subsidy” to stay afloat
during quieter times. In plain English,
Friend, that means he wants
taxpayers to foot the bill with a new 'subsidy
class'.
It’s not
the first time Air New Zealand has come calling. It's been bailed out
by taxpayers twice in recent memory. After its disastrous purchase of
Ansett collapsed in 2001, the Government pumped in nearly $900 million
and effectively re-nationalised the airline to stop it going under.
Then during COVID, when other airlines turned to debt and equity
markets, Air NZ instead went cap-in-hand to the Government for a $1.5
billion sweetheart loan facility and further equity injections.
Right now, despite all the taxpayer support, Air NZ isn't even
covering its own cost of capital. There is plenty of
financial commentary about Air NZ's struggles compared to Qantas'
strength, and the recovery of airlines offshore.
If the
Government really wanted to help Air NZ, it should force it to live up
to the reality of market disciplines by selling it and promoting
competition. History has taught us that government-owned airlines
usually struggle and offer a poor deal to consumers.
We
say cheques from taxpayers are a false economy, not a long term
solution to regional air travel. Propping up loss-making
routes would only further discourage innovation and stops smaller
competitors from entering the market.
Consents chaos is costing farmers a fortune
🚜💸
Our friends
at Federated
Farmers have released a new report that lays bare just how broken New
Zealand’s consenting system has become, and the numbers are
staggering.
Their nationwide survey found that the average
farmer now spends nearly $45,000 (!!!) to gain a new resource consent
- for things as simple as operating a well. Even consent renewals
still clock in at around $28,000. In Canterbury, the average bill
blows past $60,000. No wonder food is getting
expensive...
The process
has become a bureaucratic maze where success depends more on how many
consultants you can afford than on the quality of your environmental
practices. Councils are drowning farmers in paperwork, delays, and red
tape while charging eye-watering fees for the privilege. The system
has become so complex that even experts can’t guarantee consistent
outcomes from one planner to the next.
Farmers are
being punished for trying to follow the rules, with costs and
uncertainty now acting as a handbrake on investment and productivity
across the sector. It’s not about better environmental outcomes
anymore, it’s about ticking boxes and keeping consultants
employed.
Federated
Farmers are calling for a common-sense fix by letting all existing
consents roll over until the new RMA replacement system is ready. It’s
simple, fair, and would save farmers time, money, and stress while the
Government gets its reforms in order. Something we'll get in
behind!
A
big party for a broom, some beads – and $82,800 of your money
🎉🎨💸
Our
Investigations Coordinator, Rhys, has revealed that the Ministry for
Culture and Heritage handed over $82,800 to fund the Kiingi
Tuheitia Portraiture Awards, a biennial competition exclusively
for Māori artists aged 35 and under.
The Awards
are designed to encourage young artists to create portraits around the
theme of their tūpuna (ancestors). Fair enough, but the sheer size of
the party is a hangover.
Art (and
the value of a party) will always be subjective – and that’s part of
its beauty – but spending tens of thousands of dollars from the
Ministry’s budget went to prizes for entries that, errr, might not
reflect the priorities of hardworking New Zealanders...
The
winning works the party was to celebrate were of a string of beads on
a wall, while a runner-up features… a broom.
We’re not
calling for an end to arts funding (as much as some interns would like
us to!) – I’m a proud and loyal arts supporter myself. But we are
calling for some common sense!
If
the Government wants to spend public money on art prizes, it should be
ready to explain why that’s a better use of funds than supporting
local museums, heritage groups, or community arts projects that reach
the full breadth of the public – and actually are art,
perhaps.
Friend,
maybe next year’s theme could be “value for money.”
Thanks to
everyone who wished me well last week. Northland was a delight! Have a
great weekend.
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Tory
Relf
Head of Comms
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union
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ps. Did you see our ads in the papers today?
We’re fronting the campaign against Labour’s proposed new capital
gains tax – but we can’t do it without your support. Thank you to everyone who has already
donated. If you haven’t, every dollar will be used to fight Labour's
unfair tax grab.
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