28 April 2025

Councils enacting the Local Government (Ratings) Act are collecting millions of dollars of unpaid rates directly from the owners’ mortgages in the last 12 months.

Sam Warren, Local Government Campaigns Manager for the Taxpayers’ Union, said:

“We’ve seen some of the steepest rates increases in the last 30 years—and you want to kick them while their down?”

“These increases have been one of the main drivers in a sustained cost of living crisis, dragging out with little end in sight. Claims that this is to reduce the burden of those staying afloat misses the point—cut the waste and reduce the rates.”

“Councils are so distracted by a massively broadened scope that they have forgotten they work for the ratepayer, who now rightly expects them to focus on the basics; roads, rubbish and pipes.”

Notes:

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is an independent and membership-driven activist group, dedicated to being the voice for Kiwi taxpayers in the corridors of power. Its mission, lower taxes, less waste, more accountability, is supported by 200,000 subscribed members and supporters.
 

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