Tax Justice media release
17 December 2010

“Stealing food is nowhere near as bad as what banks and speculators are getting away with,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

“A recent article in my local Whangarei paper referred to people stealing food. This is a crime, so if you’re caught you get locked away.” (See Market fights hunger, Whangarei Leader, 7 Dec)

“Yet the far greater crime is going unpunished,” says Gunson. “Big global banks are fostering an orgy of speculation in world food prices.” (See Bank and Hedge Fund Speculation Causes Food Prices to Soar by Third World Resurgence, 22 Nov).

In 2007-2008, banks and other speculators fled mortgage markets and invested in basic food commodities, driving up prices that flowed through to New Zealanders paying more at the supermarket.

Mr Gunson says the speculators are at it again in 2010. Wheat prices jumped 60% in July because of a rush of speculative investment financed by the banks.

“While a global elite profit from food price speculation, grassroots people around the world are either going hungry or missing out on eating quality food. A massive crime against humanity is being perpetuated by the speculators,” says Gunson.

Statistics NZ recently released figures that show food prices went up 4.8 percent over the last year. While this is bad enough, analysts are predicting worse to come in 2011 as high food prices in commodity markets filter through to the checkout.

The Tax Justice campaign has a two pronged answer to rising food prices: remove GST from food and tax the speculators instead.

“It’s obscene that the government insists on maintaining this horrible tax on food when people are struggling to buy the food they need,” says Gunson.

“And New Zealand must join the global crusade against financial speculation. Introducing a tax on speculative money flows would go along way towards discouraging an economic activity that’s causing so much pain for grassroots people.”

This weekend Tax Justice campaigners are hitting the streets around the country as part of a pre-Xmas signature drive. The aim is to reach 30,000 signatures for the Tax Justice petition by the end of the year.

New Zealanders can sign the Tax Justice petition online at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/taxjustice/

For more information and comment, contact:

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

Tax Justice media release
15 December 2010

“Financial speculators should be given the boot, not welcomed into the country with the promise of paying no tax,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

Mr Gunson says prime minister John Key’s plans to fast track a tax haven for the super-rich is the opposite of what the government should be doing. (See Key itching for quick action on financial hub, NZ Herald, 2 Dec)

“Big banks and financial traders have just caused the biggest economic meltdown since the Great Depression. Their financial games have caused a lot of New Zealanders to lose their jobs or get in trouble with the bank,” says Gunson.

“We shouldn’t be rewarding a tiny global elite and encouraging a financial activity that inevitably leads to bust.”

“The ballooning government deficit, made worse by National’s tax cuts for the rich, urgently requires new solutions to tax and the economy,” says Gunson.

The Tax Justice campaign wants a tax on financial speculation and the money flows of banks and big corporates. The introduction of a tax on financial transactions of 1 cent in every dollar would potentially net billions of dollars of tax revenue.

“If we taxed the speculators,” says Gunson, “we could afford to take GST off food and do the things the government must do to build an economy that works for people, such as fund public services properly, lift benefit levels, and create real jobs.”

“The support we’re getting on the street for our Tax Justice petition shows that people are unhappy at the inequities in our tax system and want change.”

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

“We expect to finish the year with over 30,000 signatures collected,” says Gunson. “We plan to present a lot more signatures to parliament in August next year.”

New Zealanders can 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

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

Tax Justice media release
18 October 2010

“Tax all forms of income equally no matter how that income is earned” — that was the wording contained in a remit at the Labour Party conference over the weekend (see Quiet comeback for tax on wealth, NZ Herald, 18 Oct).

“Taxing all forms of income is something the Tax Justice campaign endorses,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

“We want to see financial speculation taxed. It’s currently not,” says Gunson. “Rich individuals and corporates who speculate on price shifts in a range of New Zealand markets are not paying tax at the point where their profits are accumulated.”

Mr Gunson highlights the example of the Kiwi dollar, which is one of the most traded currencies in the world due to unrestrained speculation by global hedge funds and the like. But the speculators pay no tax on any profits they make to the New Zealand government.

“The introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax would allow the government to source much needed tax revenue from the world’s mega-rich,” says Gunson. “They’ll hardly miss it, but the extra tax received will make a difference to the lives of ordinary New Zealanders. For starters, we could offer relief at the supermarket by removing GST from food.”

“We expect the twin demands of the Tax Justice campaign – GST off food and a tax on financial speculation – to be big issues in election year,” says Gunson. “We’ve been getting a lot of support on the street from Labour supporters who agree with what we’re saying.”

The Tax Justice campaign is collecting signatures for a petition calling on GST to be removed from all food and financial speculation to be taxed. 20,000 New Zealanders have so far signed the petition.

For comment, contact:

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

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
23 July 2010

Peter Dunne, Revenue Minister in the National-led government has said “it’s not New Zealand’s policy to have a non-universal GST.”

“This is not true,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator. “GST is not applied universally today. The major exemption is for financial services.”

Inland Revenue lists the following financial services as exempted from GST: dealings with money; certain dealings with securities; provision of credit and loans; provision of life insurance; provision of non-deliverable futures contracts and financial options; the payment and collection of interest, principal and dividends; and issuing securities such as stocks and shares.

“The main users of these financial services are rich investors, speculators, banks and other wealthy corporates,” says Gunson.

“Why is it okay for them to get off paying GST, when grassroots people struggling to make ends meet have to pay tax on food?” asks Gunson. “John Key needs to fess up to the people of New Zealand and admit that our tax system has a rotten core.”

“GST on food makes up a big chunk of the government’s tax revenue, but that could easily be replaced by introducing a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT),” says Gunson.

“A small percentage tax on financial transactions would net billions from rich speculators and wealthy corporates, who are today enjoying a free ride from GST,” says Gunson.

The Tax Justice campaign has been launched to promote a doable solution to New Zealand’s unjust tax system.  The focus of our campaign is a petition that calls on parliament to:

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

“In the last two months we’ve collected 5,000 signatures,” says Gunson. “We’re picking up a lot of anger on the street about the upcoming GST hike, which will stretch the budgets of low-to-middle income people to breaking point,” says Gunson.

“The issue of tax justice for grassroots Kiwis is not going away. We’re confident the campaign is going to get bigger and bigger.”

See Tax Justice media release (18 July): “It’s New Zealand’s tax system that’s unhealthy” says Tax Justice campaign

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

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

“The 15% GST hike announced in the budget today is unjust,” says Vaughan Gunson, coordinator of a new campaign for tax justice.

“Grassroots people who spend most of their income on the basics of life are now going to be paying more of this horrible tax, while it’s the rich and big corporates who reap the benefits of the tax cuts,” says Gunson.

“The GST hike will increase the pain at the supermarket for grassroots New Zealanders. The weekly budgets of people on low-to-middle incomes are going to be blown to bits,” says Gunson.

“In these tough economic times we need to urgently shift the tax burden off grassroots people,” says Gunson. “Removing GST from food would deliver instant and lasting benefits to the majority of us.”

This Saturday 22 May, tax justice campaigners will be out on the streets launching a nationwide tax petition which requests parliament to:

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

The petition is jointly sponsored by the Alliance Party and Socialist Worker.

Gunson says the two demands address the core injustice in the current tax system. “Why should we have to pay tax on one of life’s necessities, food, while financial speculation goes untaxed?”

“The one-two counterpunch contained in the tax petition, to (1) remove GST from food, and (2) tax financial speculation, hits back at the pro-corporate and pro-rich tax policies National is pursuing,” says Gunson.

“If we taxed financial speculation by introducing a modest Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) we could easily afford to remove GST from food,” says Gunson. “A FTT would help discourage financial speculation, which destabilises the economy and causes untold harm to ordinary people, as the global financial crisis has proven.”

We expect the response to the petition to be overwhelmingly positive when we hit the streets this weekend. There will be petition stalls in these cities on Saturday 22 May:

Whangarei
8am-10am, Whangarei Growers’ Market, Water Street.

Auckland
12noon-3pm, outside Onehunga Supermarket, cnr Church Street & Selwyn Street, Onehunga.

Rotorua
9am-3pm, Rotorua City Focus, Tutanekai Street.

Tauranga
9am-12noon, Chadwick Road (opposite the post office), Greerton.

Wellington
11am-12noon, Lower Hutt Markets, Riverbank carpark.

Christchurch
11am, The Square (next to the chalice).

Dunedin
10am-12noon, The Octagon.

Regional media spokespeople will available for comment at the tax petition stalls in each centre.

For more information and comment on the national campaign, contact:

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

or

Victor Billot
Media spokesperson
021-482 219
victor@victorbillot.com

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 »