27 March 2009

Business Says ‘No’ To Bigger Social Role For ‘Super City’

Central government should reject any bigger social role for Auckland local government, said Charles Finny, Chair of the Local Government Forum.

Mr Finny was commenting on today’s release of the report of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance.

“Councils should steer clear of social policy and the redistribution of income and wealth. This is because they generally do not have the information necessary to implement income distribution policies; that such actions might clash with national income distribution goals. Council programmes such as housing would impose costs on ratepayers that would otherwise fall on taxpayers.

“On Monday the Local Government Forum will be releasing a paper Income and Wealth Redistribution: Should it be a Role of Local Government? This very timely study confirms the findings of a 1988 report by central government officials which concluded that councils should focus on public goods provision and that the explicit redistribution of income and wealth should remain the responsibility of central government.

“Members of the Local Government Forum will be carefully considering the large and detailed report of the Royal Commission and its many recommendations.

“The Forum welcomes the Government’s commitment to make its response a high priority and we are looking forward to discussing next steps with the Government”, said Mr Finny.

ENDS

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