Labour's water tax policy to hit consumers and the East Coast

Labour's water tax policy to hit consumers and the East Coast

Reacting to today’s announcement of Labour’s freshwater policy, Irrigation New Zealand CEO Andrew Curtis said: 'Labour's water tax would affect every New Zealander.

'Extra costs from a water tax will inevitably be passed on to consumers, meaning higher prices for food, wine, beer, housing and in many other industries.

‘How could a water tax be implemented in practice given the differences in weather and water use across the country. It would be a hugely complex administrative nightmare.

'The majority of irrigation is in the east coast areas - are these communities to be penalised because they live in an area with a drier climate that needs more irrigation?'

‘It’s also interesting to see that hyrdro-electric power users are to be excluded. That’s hardly the fair and equitable approach Labour said it wanted to take. Energy companies are the largest extractors of water in New Zealand, barring others from using it, and many of the profits are going overseas.’

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