The Taxpayers’ Union is backing ACT leader David Seymour’s calls for a simpler tax system but says it should be flat, not just ‘flatter’ than the status quo.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“There are billions of dollars of waste in government that could be eliminated in order to fund tax relief.

“There are many largely useless departments that could be eliminated in their entirety while the remainder should be zero-based and reassessed asking ‘if this job or programme did not exist today, would we decide to create it?’ If the answer is no, it should be cut.

“A flat-tax system is simple, fair and encourages productivity while allowing people to keep more of their own money. New Zealand should be striving for the world’s most efficient and competitive tax system through wholesale reform, not temporary tax relief that will eventually be eroded away through bracket creep.”

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