Responding to news that Amazon’s Lord of the Rings production will abandon New Zealand for its second season, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says:

“Frankly, we’ve been played. The Government justified throwing $162 million at Amazon on the basis that they could bring five TV seasons and even a spinoff series to New Zealand. We were completely sucked into Amazon’s spin. It’s no wonder Jeff Bezos is the richest man on Earth.”

“Just as it’s done across the world, Amazon has successfully played the New Zealand and UK governments off each other to secure one massive handout after another. We’ve warned time and time again that the only way to win the film subsidy game is to not play. Both National and Labour-led Governments have naively been drawn into taxpayer-funded bidding wars to woo film productions. The truth is that we cannot outbid richer countries forever, and today’s news is the proof.”

“We will be sending a wreath to the offices of the British TaxPayers’ Alliance in commiserations for the massive sum British taxpayers will have forked out to appease Amazon.”

© Scoop Media