Free Press

ACT’s regular bulletin

TAX FREEDOM DAY GETTING LATER
Tax firm Staples Rodway calculate Tax Freedom Day every year. How many days do you have to work to pay tax and rates before you can work for yourself for the rest of the year? Last year, you were in the clear on May 1st. This year it is May 8th. Good thing we threw out that tax-and-spend Labour Government!

NOT TO SOUND LIKE A BROKEN RECORD, BUT
Fiscal creep. Each year people get pushed into higher tax brackets by inflation, stealthily increasing the amount of tax taken from people’s wages by PAYE. By next year, taxpayers will have paid $2.8 billion extra tax because tax brackets are not linked to inflation. ACT has consistently said the brackets should be inflation linked, so that politicians who want to raise money must ask the voters. It is the only honest position.

COMING UP
David Seymour will launch ACT’s tax policy this Thursday at 12pm. You can livestream the speech (or watch it afterwards) on David’s Facebook page. The policy will be based on the oft-forgotten observation that money actually belongs to the people who work, save, and invest to earn it first, only then can it be taken by the IRD.

PRINCIPLED BACK BENCHERS
Forcing the party’s Maori candidates off the list may prove catastrophic for Labour. The MPs are now loyal to their electorates first and Labour second. That is why they are advocating for Partnership Schools. Partnership Schools are popular in Maoridom, and are officially endorsed by the Iwi Leaders Forum. At least two of the Labour Maori candidates even have family involved in Partnership Schools.

PRIVATE PRISONS
Meanwhile another member of the Labour Maori caucus, Kelvin Davis, is advocating for prisons by run by Maori for Maori. How would a such an arrangement be structured? The prison would have to reach certain targets, preventing escapes, reducing reoffending etc, but have operational independence. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Davis wants to extend the charter schools model to prisons.

FUNDAMENTAL CLASH
Davis wants the new prison to be run differently, but is that possible when the staff are under the same union contracts as the prisons Davis rejects? Almost certainly not. Union representatives will say “we are only required to do what we’re contracted to do, and that contract is negotiated nationally.” Labour will be in chaos until it decides whether it is the union party or the party of better social services for those who need them. Either way, ACT’s view of the world is prevailing.

MEDIA ROUND UP
Free Press has been delayed this week because we’ve been busy on multiple fronts. Here is David Seymour on repealing Blasphemous Libel laws, the Labour Party’s woes and Partnership Schools, and the release of MPs’ pecuniary interests.

4 1/2 MONTHS TO GO
ACT is ramping up towards election day and will soon announce its candidates.

© Scoop Media