Clarification regarding comments on NZIER study

14 MAY 2019

Yesterday the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union made a statement headlined ‘NZIER confirms Māori being ripped off by Government’. This was in response to a new NZIER study quantifying the expenditure of Māori on taxes applied to tobacco, alcohol, and gambling.

NZIER’s figures closely matched those in an earlier report by the Taxpayers’ Union comparing the tax taken from Māori communities to that spent on Māori Development and Treaty settlements, Ka Tukuna Atu, Ka Tukuna Mai.

To clarify: NZIER’s study made no judgment on whether or not Māori are being ‘ripped off’ – this was left open to interpretation. The Taxpayers’ Union did not intend to speak on NZIER’s behalf.

The Taxpayers’ Union believes NZIER’s figures back up our claim that Māori are being ‘ripped off’. The figures demonstrate the disproportionate effect of sin taxes on Māori, and the fact that these taxes negate the financial contributions of treaty settlements and Māori Development funding.

ENDS

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