Grant Brookes, Tax Justice spokesperson, speaking on the steps of Parliament.

from NZ Herald
16 August 2011

Inclement weather today did not stop tax campaigners from presenting to Parliament a 40,000-signature petition calling for GST to be removed from food and a tax placed on financial speculation.

Tax Justice coordinator Vaughan Gunson had intended to join campaigners from as far afield as Whangarei and Dunedin to hand over the petition on the steps of Parliament to Labour’s Mangere MP Su’a William Sio, who would then present it to the House.

But he was unable to fly into Wellington and the petition was instead handed over by Wellington campaign organiser Grant Brookes.

Union representatives, Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, and Maori Party MPs Rahui Katene and Te Ururoa Flavell also attended the handover.

“It was great to see them willing to receive our message and to present it to their colleagues in Parliament, and we certainly conveyed our views fairly and strongly,” Mr Brookes said.

He said polls showed most people wanted GST off food, while he thought people were of the feeling that the wealthiest New Zealanders did not pay their fair share of tax. Read the rest of this entry »

The presentation of the Tax Justice petition to Parliament will go ahead today at 12 noon, despite the polar outbreak causing a few headaches for Tax Justice organisers.

Tax Justice organisers from as far afield as Whangarei and Dunedin were to fly into Wellington today to participate in the hand-over of 40,000 signatures on the steps of Parliament.

But petition organisers say their campaign will not be put on ice. Local Tax Justice campaigners from Wellington will step up to coordinate the presentation, regardless of local weather conditions, says Tax Justice campaign coordinator Vaughan Gunson, who was unable to fly into Wellington yesterday or today. Read the rest of this entry »

A petition signed by 40 000 New Zealanders asking for GST to be removed from food will be presented at Parliament at noon tomorrow Tuesday 16 August 2011.

The petition also requests that a financial transactions tax – sometimes referred to as a “Robin Hood Tax” or “Hone Heke Tax” – be introduced, which would cover the cost of removing GST from food.

Tax Justice campaign spokesperson and Alliance Party co-leader Kay Murray says the petition has struck a chord with New Zealanders.

“The majority of New Zealander’s are struggling with stagnant wages but hefty increases in the cost of living. Removing GST from food would help the majority of people in New Zealand.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Maritime Union of New Zealand will be among official campaign supporters attending the handover of the Tax Justice petition at Parliament Buildings tomorrow Tuesday 16 August 2011.

The Tax Justice campaign has collected nearly 40 000 signatures for its petition to remove GST from food and introduce a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT).

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the union was the first to officially back the Tax Justice campaign, but has been joined by several other major unions.

He says the goal of taking GST off food is a urgent necessity for the wellbeing of New Zealand workers and families.

Read the rest of this entry »

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/

Tax Justice media release
17 May 2011

The Tax Justice campaign welcomes the active support of three campaigning unions. The Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU), National Distribution Union (NDU), and Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) have officially endorsed the Tax Justice petition and are helping to collect signatures.

“Unions have long played a progressive role in New Zealand society. These three unions are backing the Tax Justice campaign because removing GST from food and taxing financial speculation would help shift the tax burden off working people and onto the big corporates and super-rich,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says workers should get in behind the Tax Justice campaign in 2011: “National’s tax cuts for millionaires were unaffordable and irresponsible. Instead of giving income tax cuts to people on high incomes like John Key, we should remove GST on food to help those struggling with the weekly bills.”

“A Financial Transactions Tax would ensure we could pay for vital public services including health and education, by taxing unproductive financial speculation. It’s time to give a break to working people who create the wealth of our society and start taxing those whose activities have no benefit,” says Joe Fleetwood.

John Ryall, Service and Food Workers Union National Secretary says: “The SFWU has always been opposed to regressive taxes such as GST, which penalises New Zealanders on the lowest incomes. The introduction of GST and the corresponding tax cuts for the rich in the 1980s had a big impact on the growth of economic inequality in this country. The increase in GST last year furthered this trend.”

“The SFWU supports the demands of the Tax Justice campaign for GST to be removed from food and the lost government revenue to be replaced with a tax on financial speculators.”

“It’s time inequality in this country was addressed. The measures promoted by the Tax Justice campaign are a good step in this direction,” says John Ryall.

“ GST has always been an anti-worker, anti-poor tax,” says Robert Reid, General Secretary of the National Distribution Union.  “Because low income workers spend most of their pay each week, they pay a much greater proportion of their income on GST than the rich who are able to save money or spend it abroad.”

“A Financial Transaction Tax is a good tax.  It not only raises revenue that the country needs but taxes the moneymen and speculators who are the ones that have got New Zealand and the rest of the world into the financial mess we’re in.  If enough money is brought in through a Financial Transaction Tax then we can take not only GST off food, but get rid of the entire anti-worker GST system.”

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions also supports the phasing out of GST and the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax. It is one of the specific policy recommendations in the CTU’s Alternative Economic Strategy.

Mr Gunson hopes other unions will endorse the Tax Justice petition and mobilise their members to collect signatures over next couple of months prior to the petition being presented to parliament in August.

For comment, contact:

Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
(09)433 8897
021-0415 082
svpl@xtra.co.nz

Joe Fleetwood
MUNZ General Secretary
(04)801 7614
021-364 649
joe.fleetwood@munz.org.nz

John Ryall
SFWU National Secretary
(04)566 8274
0275-210 380
john.ryall@sfwu.org.nz

Robert Reid
NDU General Secretary
(09)622 8351
021-5535 933
robert.reid@ndu.org.nz

Tax Justice media release
20 February 2011

The Tax Justice campaign says most New Zealanders support taking GST off all food, and not just fruit and vegetables.

“That’s what we’re picking up on the street when we go out with the Tax Justice petition,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

“The Sunday Star-Times poll showing two-to-one support for taking GST off fruit and vegetables reflects the hardening attitude against food being made more expensive by a tax,” says Gunson. (See Hungry for cheaper food, 20 February 2011.)

Mr Gunson says Labour’s current policy of removing GST from fresh fruit and vegetables is a step in the right direction, but people need more relief from rising food prices.

Removing GST from all food would deliver a much bigger drop in what people are paying at the supermarket. For example, the GST on a $200 weekly food bill is $26.09. Taking the GST off all food would make a noticeable difference to people finding it tough to afford the basics.

“At our campaign stalls we’ve been using a table which shows what people are paying each week in GST on food. Most people are outraged when they see the figures,” says Gunson. (See below ‘How much is GST on food costing you?’)

The Tax Justice campaign is proposing a tax on financial speculation to fund taking GST off food. Financial speculators currently pay no tax at the point where their profits are accumulated.

25,000 New Zealanders have so far signed the Tax Justice petition.

6,650 people have joined the No GST on Food Facebook page, making it one of the most popular New Zealand campaigns on Facebook.

For comment, contact:

Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
(09)433 8897
021-0415 082
svpl@xtra.co.nz

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

Tax Justice media release
12 December 2010

On the weekend before Christmas, Tax Justice campaigners will be out collecting signatures for a petition calling on GST to be taken off food.

“Christmas can be a time of great stress for many New Zealanders, as people try to cope with the extra costs that put a strain on already stretched budgets,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

“One of the reasons people will be struggling is the high cost of food. Everybody knows it, everybody’s talking about it, but we need solutions,” says Gunson.

“We’re proposing one action that would give some relief at the supermarket: remove the GST tax from all our food.”

Tax Justice campaigners will be using a simple flyer to show how much extra we’re currently paying for food because of GST (click to view), then asking people if taking GST off food would make a difference to their weekly budget? Mr Gunson expects the overwhelming response from grassroots New Zealanders to be yes.

Over 20,000 people have so far signed the Tax Justice petition that requests parliament to:

1. Remove GST from food; and
2. Tax financial speculation.

Instead of taxing a necessity of life the Tax Justice campaign is advocating a tax on financial speculation. Currently super-rich speculators, big corporates and banks pay zero tax on their financial wheeling and dealing.

“People are outraged when they find out that under New Zealand’s tax law financial services are exempted from GST, yet food isn’t,” says Gunson. “Currently there’s no effective tax mechanism in New Zealand to net the speculators. That needs to change if we’re going to have a fair and just tax system in this country.”

The Tax Justice campaign supports the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax. A small percentage tax on financial transactions of 1 cent in every dollar would potentially net billions of dollars from overseas and local financial speculators, as well as the banks and big corporates who are skilled at avoiding tax.

The pre-Xmas signature drive for the Tax Justice petition will be taking place around the country on Saturday 18 December and Sunday 19 December.

New Zealanders will also be able to sign the Tax Justice petition online at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/taxjustice/

For more information and comment on the campaign, contact:

Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
(09)433 8897
021-0415 082
svpl@xtra.co.nz

To download a copy of the Tax Justice petition click here.

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