8 October 2012

Dunne evades tax haven questions

Peter Dunne’s relaxed attitude to wealthy foreigners using New Zealand as a tax haven is in stark contrast to his crackdown on paper boys and workers with car parks, says Labour’s Revenue spokesperson David Clark.

“The number of foreign trusts based here for overseas billionaires to get away tax free has almost doubled since National came to power.

“There is a serious ethical issue here. These people, who are often rich families in poor countries, aren’t paying their fair share. That’s not something New Zealand should be supporting. It’s not the Kiwi way.

“This is the same attitude they have to wealthy New Zealanders avoiding tax. The Government isn’t worried about wealthy Kiwis or foreigners not paying their fair share. Labour will ensure everyone pays what they owe.

“Revenue Minister Peter Dunne is far too relaxed and hands-off about the wealthy paying their fair share. He seems to have caught the ‘nothing I can do’ disease from his National colleagues. To attempt to explain away this dubious practice as ‘legitimate tax avoidance’ as he did on 60 Minutes and say there’s nothing he can do is simply not on.

“National has forced the ordinary New Zealander to carry the can for our economic troubles by cutting spending and scratching around for new things to tax, the latest wheeze being car parks. It sticks in the craw to see overseas billionaires using this country to avoid paying taxes.

“We are in danger of losing our hard-one reputation as an ethical and respectable country. Peter Dunne’s relaxed attitude to overseas tax avoidance and National’s failed attempts to create a foreign funds hub shows the Government has no concerns about us becoming the Cayman Islands of the South Pacific,” says David Clark.

ends

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>