The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming the National-led government for giving in to well-connected gaming lobbyists and continuing to subsidise the gaming sector to the tune of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars each year.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“Subsidising an infant industry doesn’t help it to grow up. Instead, you end up with a lazy adult still living in mum’s basement and doing nothing productive. Giving an industry money when it can’t stand on its own two feet may prop it up, but it also swells the size of the subsidy required to keep it afloat. This vicious cycle forces taxpayers to fork out more and more each year.

“Investment should be occurring where it makes the most sense, which is best determined by markets not Ministers. The only way to ensure money is being allocated efficiently is by letting people decide for themselves what they value.

“Subsidising one sector simply forces the allocation of resources away from industries that are more productive or where New Zealand has a greater comparative advantage. Politicians are falling into the same trap as they did with the film sector by growing an industry dependant on subsidies that then become near impossible to remove.

“We call on ACT to stick to their principles and push back against the Government’s approach of subsidising the wealthy elite and instead cut all corporate welfare to fund an across the board reduction in the company tax rate for all businesses.”

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