Tax Justice media release
25 January 2011

“GST off food will be a defining political issue in 2011,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator. “How political parties relate to growing anger at rising food prices will be a test of whether or not they’re prepared to put people first.”

“The impact of ballooning global food prices is being felt by New Zealanders at the supermarket, and it’s predicted to get much worse,” says Gunson. “Fast-track legislation to take GST off food would offer some relief.”

The lead story in the Sunday Star Times (23 January), based on an online survey, lists taking GST off food as one of the things survey respondents would most like to see happen in 2011 (see Wealth gap divides nation)

“The Sunday Star Times survey just confirms what we’ve been picking up on the streets and through the ‘No GST on Food’ Facebook page [which has 6,500 members]. People are passionate about GST off food and want the politicians to listen,” says Gunson.

Tax Justice campaigners have collected 25,000 signatures for a petition that calls on parliament to remove GST from food and tax financial speculation instead. The petition will be presented to parliament in August.

Mr Gunson has no doubt that GST off food will be an election issue at the end of the year.

For comment, contact:

Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
021-0415 082
svpl@xtra.co.nz

by Deborah Doane
from NewStatesman
11 January 2011

While inertia continues to define the coalition government’s approach to banking regulation, the bankers are happily enjoying yet another free-for-all spending splurge – and fears are emerging of a new bubble. This time, it’s a commodity bubble, similar to the one that led to food riots around the world in 2007 and 2008.

In case you hadn’t noticed, food prices are at an all-time high: the latest figures show food price inflation at 5.5 per cent, outpacing the overall inflation figure of 3.3 per cent. You’ll be paying as much as 25 per cent more for your regular cuppa as tea prices rise; and we already saw the cost of our Christmas turkey go up by more than £3 before Christmas, due to the doubling in feed costs in 2010.
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