If New Zealand tech entrepreneurs have good ideas, they should ask investors or the bank to fund them, not the Government, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union Economist, Joe Ascroft, says, “Kiwi entrepreneurs come up with great new ideas every day, but if they can’t get funding from investors or banks, why should taxpayers have to stump up with the capital? The venture capital fund is simply socialism for tech nerds.”

“If the Government wants to encourage more innovation and stronger growth from tech start-ups, it should focus on making New Zealand more friendly to business investment generally, instead of picking winners. Callaghan Innovation has shown how the picking-winners approach just promotes bureacracy and failure.”

“Perhaps the worst part of the scheme is that the Government is going to operate its venture capital fund through the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. The Super Fund should be left to its own devices to invest in the interests of all Kiwis looking to retire comfortably, not weaponised to fund socialism for trendy businesses.”

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