Free Press: Muldoon Lives!
Free Press
ACT’s regular
bulletin
Muldoon Lives!
On the
weekend New Zealand First challenged the Prime Minister to
dictate which branches Westpac could and couldn’t close,
because Westpac is the Government’s banker. The taxpayer
would effectively be subsidising Westpac to keep some
branches open for political reasons.
What About
Kiwibank?
As some commentators have already
pointed out, doesn’t the Government already own a bank for
social purposes? How many does it need? 2017 will be a
referendum on New Zealand going forwards, or back to the
70’s.
Meanwhile at
Domino's
Transport Minister Simon Bridges took
the photo-op with pizza company Domino's, who are planning
to deliver by drone. Bridges took the announcement as a
nod to New Zealand’s permissive regulatory environment,
but the details look sketchy. It is illegal to operate a
drone if it is out of your line of sight, or flies over
property. Unless you live across the road from Domino's,
current regulations won’t do you much
good.
Merchants of Melancholy?
We hate
to be down on Simon all the time but his transport
innovations always have so much sizzle and so little
sausage. His basic idea – that New Zealand should be
permissive of new transport technologies – is first
class, but as with road pricing, ride sharing, and
autonomous vehicles, the reality of drone deregulation
hasn’t met the rhetoric yet. C’mon
Simon!
Party Like it’s 1689!
Eighty
years before James Cook set foot in New Zealand, the English
adopted the Bill of Rights. Chief among its provisions was
that only Parliament could raise money through taxes.
Parliament has taken to the task with greater enthusiasm
than ACT would like, but it is still a good
rule.
Revenue Minister Above
Law
Michael Woodhouse may have missed a history
lesson as he now wants to be given a ‘regulation making
power’ such that he can make tax rules without asking
Parliament. Oddly, he has done so by proposing an
amendment to the Tax Administration Act while the bill
is still taking public submissions.
A Question
Answered
Free Press has long wondered
what the Taxpayers' Union does, but we must credit them for
spotting this bizarre Woodhouse initiative. Well
done.
New Beating Required
The best
thing that ever happened to the IRD was when ACT’s Rodney
Hide gave them a good beating, after which they behaved for
about a decade. Sadly we hear a growing chorus that the
IRD is up to its old tricks again, having little respect for
the people who pay the bills. It’s little wonder, when
the Minister supposed to hold the tax collectors to account
instead tries to overturn three centuries of parliamentary
law to make their job
easier.