by Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
vaughangunson@taxjustice.net
021-0415 082

There are two demands on the Tax Justice petition. One is to remove GST from food and give immediate relief at the supermarket to grassroots people. If we can win GST off food – an idea supported by a majority of New Zealanders – then we may be able to build the political momentum needed to get rid of GST all together. GST is a horrible regressive tax that hurts low and middle income people the most.

The second demand on the petition is to tax financial speculation. While we pay tax on our kai, filthy rich speculators pay zero tax on their wheeling and dealing. This is a gross injustice.

But the speculators aren’t just getting away with paying no tax, their activity on a global scale has contributed to the world financial crisis which is causing untold economic hardship for grassroots people worldwide.

And, it’s speculators who are responsible for driving up food prices through their speculative investment in food commodity markets. This is resulting in millions and millions of people around the world going hungry. It’s a crime against humanity.

The speculators, who profit at the expense of the rest of us, need to be chopped down. That’s the message of the latest Tax Justice cartoon.

The Tax Justice petition will be presented to Parliament in a few weeks time on Tuesday 16 August. The more signatures we have the stronger the message we’ll be giving to politicians and the media. We hope to reach 50,000 signatures.

Every effort to collect more signatures in these last weeks will help. Contact us now. Or download the petition here.

Post completed petition sheets to: Tax Justice, PO Box 13-685, Auckland 1061.

To sign the online version of the petition go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/taxjustice/