Fletcher Tabuteau

New Zealand First Spokesperson

for Commerce and Revenue

19 OCTOBER 2016

TOUGH LAWS NEEDED TO STOP MULTINATIONALS’ RORT

Minister of Finance Bill English needs to face the reality of tightening New Zealand tax laws to make sure multinationals pay their fair share of tax, says New Zealand First Commerce and Revenue Spokesperson Fletcher Tabuteau.

“The minister kept saying in Parliament today that multinationals must keep to New Zealand laws but the fact is most of them do.

“The major problem is our tax laws are  too feeble and weak.

“As a result we have 20 multinational companies paying just $1.8 million in income tax in 2014 while recording nearly $10 billion in annual sales in New Zealand.

“Mastercard NZ declared revenue in New Zealand of just $4.5 million and paid a pitiful $71,445 in their latest figures despite sharing evenly in $40 billion of annual credit card billings.

“In their latest figures Visa NZ declared only $3.2 million of revenue and paid a mere $185,000 in tax.

“New Zealand companies have said they miss out on investment opportunities here because overseas competitors abusing our tax system had an unfair advantage.

“Mr English said outrage does not fix the problem – no it doesn’t - tough laws do and using the excuse that New Zealand law needs to interface with international tax law is just procrastination on his part,” Mr Tabuteau says.

ENDS