“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

from Socialist Worker and Alliance Party

The Alliance Party and Socialist Worker are jointly launching a nationwide tax campaign on Saturday 22 May. The campaign will champion tax changes of benefit to grassroots New Zealanders.

The focus will be a non-CIR petition sponsored by both Socialist Worker and the Alliance Party, which requests parliament to:

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

These two demands will address injustices in the current tax system. Grassroots people have to pay tax on one of life’s necessities, food, while financial speculation goes untaxed. These injustices will be made worse when the National government this week delivers its 2010 Budget, where GST will almost certainly be increased to 15%.

The GST hike will compound the pain at the supermarket where food prices are already shooting upwards, driven by international speculation in the necessities of life. The budgets of grassroots New Zealanders will be stretched to breaking point. In this context we expect the petition demands to be very popular.

Targeting neoliberalism

GST is a regressive tax that has strong support within corporate, banking and government circles. And unrestrained financialisation has become the central pillar of neoliberal capitalism and the source of an escalating proportion of the profits made by the world’s super-rich over the last few decades.

The one-two counterpunch contained in the tax petition, to (1) remove GST from food, and (2) tax financial speculation, hits the heart of neoliberalism. The petition will be an important mobilising tool in the strategic struggle around tax policy in New Zealand, with the grassroots facing-off against those who continue to promote the neoliberal agenda.

Taxing financial speculation through the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) would easily fund the removal of GST on food. At the same time an FTT would help discourage financial speculation, which destabilises the economy and causes untold harm to ordinary people, as the global financial crisis has proven.

How you can help

Socialist Worker and the Alliance Party are extending an open invite to other individuals and groups to support our tax campaign, which launches on Saturday 22 May, two days after National’s budget. The most obvious way that you can help is to collect signatures for the petition. The Alliance Party and Socialist Worker will widely distribute copies of our tax petition to everyone who wants to help.

Numbers are going to count. The more signatures we get, the more chance we have of building enough campaign momentum to connect with multitudes of New Zealanders and thus increase the pressure for fundamental changes in government policies. As our campaign grows, more opportunities may well emerge for wider cooperation among the broad left around tax justice and many other issues. We’d like to get your feedback and hear your ideas.

In solidarity,

Vaughan Gunson (Socialist Worker)
and
Victor Billot (Alliance Party)

For more information contact:

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

Victor Billot
Media spokesperson
021-482 219
victor(at)victorbillot.com