Mayor endangers ratepayers by caving to Toyota’s threats
Mayor endangers ratepayers by caving to Toyota’s
threats
18 JANUARY
2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Responding to Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith’s suggestion that Toyota used threats to garner a $391,000 grant from ratepayers, New Zealand Taxpayers’ UnionExecutive Director Jordan Williams says:
“The Mayor says that there was a threat that Toyota could move operations to another centre, such as Auckland. He seems naïve to the art of the deal – corporates will happily make empty threats to bureaucrats if they think it will garner freebies from the ratepayer.”
“In caving to Toyota’s threats, the Mayor only encourages them to use similar tactics in future. Even worse, this precedent invites corporates to play different councils off against each other, sparking bidding wars with public money. That’s why all councils should simply refuse to give corporate handouts as a matter of principle.”
“It may be too late for the council to reverse their decision, but Toyota can still repair its reputation with Palmerston North ratepayers by apologising and returning the money. Our petition calling on Toyota to do just that can be signed at www.taxpayers.org.nz/toyota.”
ENDS