The Government needs to stop mulling over the idea
of giving taxpayer funding to political
parties, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’
Union after the Prime Minister refused to rule out the
idea today.
Taxpayers' Union
spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Make no mistake, the
Green Party is cynically exploiting the National Party’s
crisis to secure taxpayer cash for its election campaigns,
and give itself an unfair advantage over political start-ups
and community voices. Labour needs to prove that it's better
than its support party by ruling out this opportunistic
idea.”
“The most objectionable part of this
proposal is that taxpayers would be forced to fund political
causes that they might find completely reprehensible. We pay
taxes to fund universal services, like health and education.
Let’s keep it that way.”
“Admittedly, the
Taxpayers’ Union has a self-interested reason to oppose
this policy: a taxpayer-funded subsidy will help political
parties dominate public debate, drowning out the voices of
independent, donation-funded groups like
us.”
If you're using Scoop for work, your organisation needs to pay a small license fee with Scoop Pro. We think that's fair, because your organisation is benefiting from using our news resources. In return, we'll also give your team access to pro news tools and keep Scoop free for personal use, because public access to news is important!
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don't think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of political capital by giving landlords a huge $2.9 billion tax break via interest deductibility, while still preaching the need for austerity to the disabled, and to everyone else... More
Government: Concerns Conveyed To China Over Cyber Activity Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity... More
Declining GDP for the December quarter reinforces the importance of restoring fiscal discipline to public spending and driving more economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says... More
Winston Peters has announced NZ is providing a further $5M to respond to the extreme humanitarian need in Gaza and the West Bank. “The impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on civilians is absolutely appalling," he said... More
Judith Collins has announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister Jason Scott McHerron as a High Court Judge. Justice McHerron graduated from the University of Otago with a BA in English Literature in 1994 and an LLB in 1996... More