Grant Morgan
Media release 19.8.09

Support GST-off-food Bill in Parliament

On 19 August, Maori Party MP Rahui Katene informed Parliament that her party is putting forward a Bill to remove GST from food.

And her speech in the House acknowledged last year's People's Procession to Parliament, organised by RAM, which took the GST-off-food petition the length of the North Island. All-in-all, over 25,000 signatures were gained as crowds lined up to sign an enormously popular petition.

Rahui stated:

One solution that I have been considering is to put before the House, a bill to remove the GST off food.

We know that such a move would mean cost savings on food, at a time when food costs have increased exponentially – and continue to do so.

While all consumers would benefit from lower food costs, people on lower incomes tend to spend a greater share of their incomes on food and so would reap a greater benefit as a portion of their income.

In putting this Bill forward, the Maori Party is conscious that neither Australia nor the United Kingdom charge GST on food. Their approach has been to exempt most foods except in the case of Australia, restaurant and take out food, and in the case of the UK, to exempt lollies, chips, ice-cream and chocolate biscuits.

So there’s another agenda of course - that while we’re saving the pennies, we’re also saving lives by promoting healthy eating with food choices such as fresh fruit and vegetables.

Finally I want to acknowledge the efforts of the People’s Procession to Parliament, which resulted in a 23,000 strong petition presented to my colleague, Hone Harawira and mysefl, last October.

GST is a discriminatory tax which punishes the poor and favours the rich. It was introduced by Roger Douglas during the years of the Rogernomics blitzkreig in order to halve the income tax and company tax paid by the super rich. GST is the financial cornerstone of the neo-liberal strategy which has devastated the grassroots over the last few decades.

We should do everything possible to support Rahui and her Maori Party colleagues in their parliamentary initiative to remove GST from food.

Their principled stand on GST will be of immense benefit to the grassroots. It puts more heat on pro-GST parties, which include Labour and the Greens as well as the openly right-wing politicos in National and Act.

All social justice activists should be calling on Green and Labour MPs to live up to their "pro-people" rhetoric by supporting the Maori Party's GST-off-food Bill in Parliament.

Please help our common cause by forwarding this email to your own networks, and by lobbying your local MPs on the GST Bill.

ENDS

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