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Hi Friend,
This week
we've got a new briefing paper for you, an update on that
Ngāi Tahu story, Porirua as our Ratepayer Heroes, and more.
Friend,
this is How to Cap Rates Now 🧢📘
Back in
June, we launched the Cap Rates Now campaign and more than 31,000
ratepayers answered the call and signed up to support
the campaign. Since then, the campaign has snowballed. So if
you're someone who has shared social media posts, put up a "Cap Rates
Now" roadside banner, or joined us in protest outside the Local
Government New Zealand conference, (where Local Government Minister
Simon Watts promised a rates cap by Christmas) thank you for your
support.
And, fast
forward to this week: Minister Watts and Minister Chris Bishop
announced a major change to local government (more on that below) but
it wasn’t the rates cap we were promised. The clock’s ticking,
and with 34% average rates rises over the last three years, we need
action now.
Our team
has been working behind the scenes, meeting with Minister Watts and
many others to push for the changes we need. And
this week we released How to Cap Rates Now – our policy
briefing paper that outlines exactly how the Minister can keep his
promise and cap rates before next year’s budget.
In
short, ratepayers need:
✅ Capping rates before councils set their
2026/27 budgets
✅ Making sure the rates cap covers all
local government revenue (no sneaky fees and
workarounds!)
✅ Linking the cap to day-to-day inflation
but accounting for population growth
✅ Ensuring ratepayers have the final say,
not bureaucrats
✅ Refunding any oversized rates bills
(over and above the caps) directly to ratepayers
Minister
Watts’ time is running out. Our briefing paper lays out the steps to
make sure rates are capped fairly and effectively. You
can read the paper here.
Christchurch’s $1.36m “Consultation” Loop
🚨
As the team
exposed this week, Christchurch City Council has spent $1.36 million
paying a Ngāi Tahu-owned consultancy to advise the Council on how to
engage with… Ngāi Tahu.
I don’t
need to be an accountant to see the problem there...
Ratepayers
are effectively being charged so the Council can be told how to talk
to the very same groups that own the consultancy. No
tendering, no transparency, and so far, no acceptance from the Council
that they need to release the invoices.
It’s a
cosy arrangement that needs transparency.
Yesterday
I joined The Platform to push the Council for answers.
And, if
this is happening in Christchurch, could it also be happening
elsewhere? Our
confidential tip-line is always open...
Sunlight
really is the disinfectant here, and your tips are often how we get
onto these rorts
waste stories.
A fine
line between fair road charges and unfair new taxes 🚘
Austin, my
favourite (our only!) Policy Analyst, wrote this
great piece in The Post about the Government's new road charging
reforms.
New Zealand
is about to enter a new era of road charging with congestion pricing
and expanded tolling powers, but as Austin points out, these reforms
will only be fair if two key principles are followed: (1)
congestion charges must be revenue-neutral, and
(2) tolls must remain user-pays.
👉 Read
Austin’s op-ed over on The Post. 👈
Congestion
pricing has proven successful overseas in managing demand (i.e.
reducing traffic at peak times) and therefore boosting productivity.
But it’s important that any money raised is used to offset
other road user charges, not to create an additional financial burden
on drivers.
On the
other hand, tolling works when it's clear drivers pay for what they
use. However, the Government's new Parliamentary Bill threatens to
stretch this principle by charging drivers for roads they don't use or
have already paid for through fuel taxes. It lets the
Government clip the ticket twice and use a toll on roadway X to fund
maintenance of roadway Y.
We say that
asking drivers to pay twice, and funnelling toll road money away from
the roads being tolled is just a sneaky way to raise taxes, not
improve infrastructure.
Labour’s promise of *free* taxpayer funded GP policy
isn’t even backed by Labour voters 🤦♀️
Our latest
Taxpayers’ Union–Curia poll landed
in The Post this week, and the results are awkward for
Chris
Hipkins.
A
clear majority of Labour voters (57 percent) say GP subsidies should
be targeted to low- and middle-income New Zealanders, not handed out
universally to every adult regardless of income. Only 35
percent backed Labour’s universal free-GP plan.
Younger
voters and Auckland lean more universal, but everywhere else —
especially Wellington — the public want health funding aimed where it
actually makes a difference.
Hardly
surprising when long waits and GP shortages are the reality for so
many.
The
kicker? Labour’s own supporters also reject the idea of taxing capital
gains that is simply inflation. Nearly seven in ten say any
capital gains tax must apply only to real gains, not phantom
(nominal) increases.
As an MP
commented to me this week, "One more poll til
Christmas!"🎄
No more
hidden spending – let’s Open the Books! 💥
This week
Mariameno
Kapa-Kingi’s expenses back under the microscope, and once again,
we’re reminded that MPs are able to hide their spending from the
public – unlike Ministers or most Government agencies.
Friend, I
was amazed when I got to New Zealand and realised MPs' expenses aren’t
subject to the Official Information Act, so they’re free to mark their
own homework.
If
MPs want to prove they’re truly accountable to taxpayers, they need to
close this loophole and bring their spending out of the
shadows.
MPs should
face the same transparency standards as Ministers. We already know how
this works in other countries like the UK, where – after a series of
massive scandals over what, exactly, MPs were spending money on – full
disclosure of expenses is now the norm. Why should New Zealand be
different?
Want MPs to
stop hiding behind closed doors? Head over to OpenTheBooks.nz
and add your name to our petition to make full transparency the rule,
not the exception.
✍️ Sign the petition to force MPs to Open the
Books.
This
week's Ratepayer Hero is whoever organised Porirua City Council’s
swearing-in 🎂🦸♀️
Checking up
on how councils spend ratepayer money is always insightful, and with
the swearing-in of all new councillors now complete, the comparison
between Porirua and Wellington City Council’s swearing-in ceremonies
is a perfect example of how to (and how not to) use ratepayer
funds.
Porirua
City Council held its swearing-in ceremony and spent less than
one-fifth of what Wellington City Council forked out for theirs.
In fact, Porirua’s entire event cost less than Wellington's
catering budget alone – making them this week’s Ratepayer
Heroes.
While
Wellington decided to roll out the red carpet (and a hefty price tag),
Porirua kept it simple, showing that you don’t need to blow the budget
to hold a dignified event.
Friend,
this is a classic case of what we’re always advocating against. Why
should one council spend frivolously when another is getting the same
result for a fraction of the cost?
It
shouldn’t be too much to ask to hold every council to the same
standards.
Have a
great weekend ☺️
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Tory
Relf
Head of Comms
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union
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