Govt Incompetence Letting Multi-Nationals Rip NZ Off

Multi-national companies are ripping off New Zealanders because the Government and IRD cannot even identify who the overseas multi-national companies are, says New Zealand First.

“That’s how hopeless things are in New Zealand; so if you can’t identify them, how then are you going to tax them?” asks New Zealand First Commerce and Revenue Spokesperson Fletcher Tabuteau.

“We know this is happening because in response to a written question in Parliament, Inland Revenue advised Revenue Minister Michael Woodhouse they could not provide him with an estimate of the scale of tax paid by multi-national companies in New Zealand because they could not readily identify the companies.

“That’s how third world the economic management of this country is.

The NZ Herald has reported that last year overseas companies avoided paying up to $500 million in tax - but if the companies are unknown this figure is only a rough estimate and a low one.

“Bucket-loads of money are being lost to this country because of the government’s incompetence and the lack of IRD resources.

“The Government needs to come up with real world solutions to stop this massive rip-off and they need to provide IRD with greater resources to address the issue,” Mr Tabuteau says.

ENDS

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