15 August 2011

Tax changes a matter of survival for low paid

The Service and Food Workers Union Ngā Ringa Tota is strongly backing the Tax Justice petition to be presented at Parliament tomorrow.

“Our 23,000 members include some of the lowest paid and hardest working New Zealanders,” said SFWU spokesperson Alastair Duncan.

“Our members who clean, cook and care for others have no justice when it comes to tax. They sweat and toil and then pay up large on every cent they earn. Meanwhile the wealthiest New Zealanders are getting richer and richer,” he said.

“With record inflation and low pay, these workers and their families struggle every day under our current tax system to put food on the table.”

Alastair Duncan said tax changes were urgently needed including removing GST from fresh fruit and vegetables, a capital gains tax, and reversing the government tax cuts for the highest earning New Zealanders.

“These changes would deliver some tax justice to hard working New Zealanders currently paying too much tax,” he said.

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