Tax Justice media release
23 September 2010

Last year, prime minister John Key got a lot of media attention for his pen drawing of what he thought a new national flag for New Zealand should look like. He drew a silver fern.

“John Key should have drawn something that better reflected what his government had in store for grassroots New Zealanders,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

“Because on 1st October a long black cloud will descend on the lives of many New Zealanders when GST goes up to 15%.”

“The GST hike will disproportionately effect low and middle income earners who spend all their income each week on the basics,” says Gunson.

“Once you factor in inflation and stagnant wages, the GST increase will wipeout the meager tax cuts most people get from the National government’s tax changes,” says Gunson.

“While high income earners who save and invest a higher proportion of their incomes, and therefore don’t incur GST, will effectively be paying a lower rate of tax.”

“The injustice is then compounded, because it’s the same people who pay less GST as a proportion of their income who get by far the most from National’s income tax cuts,” says Gunson.

On paper the calculations look like this: someone earning $15 an hour will be $4.13 better off from the tax changes, while someone earning four times as much – $106,080 annually – will have $43.08 more in their pay packet. Your average CEO earning $265,200 will be richer by a whopping $153.92 a week (Source: Bill Rosenberg, Council of Trade Unions economist and policy director).

“As a result of National’s tax changes the rich will have more money to save and invest, allowing them to get richer, thus increasing the already terrible wealth divide in New Zealand,” says Gunson.

The Tax Justice campaign is proposing a fair alternative. The focus of the campaign is petition requesting parliament to:

1) Remove GST from food; and

2) Tax financial speculation.

“Taking GST off food would deliver a tax cut that wouldn’t be unfairly tilted in favour of the rich,” says Gunson. “A family spending $200 a week on food after 1st October will be paying GST of $26.09. Take the GST off food and you’ve got a tax cut more substantial than most of us are going to get from National’s tax changes.”

To protest the GST increase, Tax Justice supporters will be collecting signatures around the country on Friday 1st October and Saturday 2nd October.

“We expect to get a very positive response,” says Gunson. “We will significantly add to the 12,000 signatures we’ve already collected.”

A higher resolution image of John Key’s other New Zealand flag available on request.

For comment, contact:

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

Victor Billot
Tax Justice media spokesperson
021-482 219
victor@victorbillot.com

Tax Justice media release
18 July 2010

The debate around Rahui Katene’s private members bill to remove GST from healthy food needs to be broadened. That’s the message from Tax Justice campaigners.

“We need to address the core injustices in New Zealand’s tax system,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator. “Grassroots people are forced to stomach GST on food, while something as destructive to the economy as financial speculation goes untaxed,” says Gunson.

The Tax Justice campaign launched on 22 May is proposing a healthy alternative to what’s being served up today.

“We’re advocating that GST be removed from all food,” says Gunson. “This would deliver a tax cut that wouldn’t be unfairly tilted in favour of the rich.”

A family spending $200 a week on food after 1st October will be paying GST of $26.09. Take the GST off food and you’ve got a tax cut more substantial than most people are going to get from National’s tax changes.

“And we’ve got the answer for how we maintain enough tax revenue to properly fund public services,” says Gunson. “We’re saying tax the financial speculators, who are getting away with paying no tax at the moment.”

“A Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) would be the best way to make financial speculators pay tax at the point where their profits are accumulated,” says Gunson. “A small percentage tax on financial transactions would net huge sums from mostly overseas speculators, but also local ones.”

We’ve been taking our message onto the streets with a petition that calls on parliament to:

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

The response from people has been terrific. In two months we’ve collected 5,000 signatures,” says Gunson. “We expect the pace of signatures will continue to increase as more people find out about the campaign and offer to help.”

“Grassroots people know New Zealand’s tax system is unfair. The Tax Justice campaign is promoting a doable solution.”

For more information on the campaign, contact:

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

Victor Billot
Tax Justice media spokesperson
021-482 219
victor@victorbillot.com

by Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
10 June 2010

On 1st October a long black cloud is going to descend on the lives of grassroots New Zealanders. GST will increase from 12.5% to 15%, making everything more expensive. The new rate puts New Zealand in the top bracket of countries with equivalent taxes on goods and services (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax).

On the same day, the National government’s other tax changes will come into place, including across-the-board lowering of income tax rates.

For low-to-middle income people the small improvements in take home pay resulting from the tax cuts will be mostly wiped out by the increase in GST on food, electricity, clothing, rates charges, and other items that must be accounted for in weekly budgets. As has been widely reported, it’s the rich and wealthy corporates who get the most out of the tax cuts.

Read the rest of this entry »

Organisers of a petition to parliament to have GST removed from food say increasing GST to 15% will be bad for most New Zealanders.

The campaign to remove GST from food and tax financial speculation is being launched on Saturday 22 May, two days after National’s 2010 Budget, when a GST hike is widely expected to be announced.

The campaign for tax justice will be built around a petition sponsored by both the Socialist Worker (http://www.UNITYblogNZ.com) and the Alliance Party (http://www.alliance.org.nz), which requests parliament to:

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

Media spokesperson Victor Billot says soaring food prices, combined with a GST hike, will be devastating to New Zealanders already finding it hard to make ends meet. Read the rest of this entry »

The Alliance Party and Socialist Worker are jointly launching a nationwide tax campaign on Saturday 22 May.

The campaign will champion tax changes that will benefit grassroots New Zealanders.

The campaign will be built around a petition sponsored by both the Alliance Party and Socialist Worker, which requests parliament to:

1. Remove GST from food; and

2. Tax financial speculation. Read the rest of this entry »