New Zealand needs Tax Justice now, more than ever.
We must place a tax on financial speculation to help pay for the rebuilding of Christchurch, rather than cut government spending on essential public services.
Taxing financial speculation is one of the demands on the Tax Justice Petition, along with removing GST from food. More than 25,000 New Zealanders have signed the Petition.
The Christchurch Earthquake is a devastating blow to the people of that City.
But that suffering must not be spread to the rest of the country.
How we fund the rebuilding of Christchurch will have a long-term impact on the well-being of millions of ordinary New Zealanders.
The Tax Justice Campaign calls on all political parties represented in Parliament to put serious consideration into the implementation of a tax on financial speculation.
A Financial Transaction Tax on speculative money flows could potentially raise billions from banks, overseas hedge funds and wealthy corporates operating in New Zealand.
Treasury officials with access to the relevant information must investigate the amount of money that can be raised through a Financial Transaction Tax.
Financial speculation adds nothing to the New Zealand economy, and is carried out by mega-wealthy individuals and institutions whose only goal is windfall profits. We must tax them to rebuild Christchurch.
The tax agenda of John Key’s National Government has been to shift the tax burden to grassroots people, by putting GST up to 15% and giving tax cuts to the rich. The Government has cut back company tax from 30% to 28%, one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world.
National’s tax agenda, if continued in the wake of the Christchurch Earthquake, will heap pain on top of pain for ordinary people.
The Tax Justice Campaign supports calls for reversal of National’s 2010 tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy. Removing GST from food would deliver immediate budget relief to struggling low and middle-income earners.
Vaughan Gunson is Tax Justice Campaign Coordinator and a strong advocate of making all food items ‘GST Free.’ Phone: (09)433 8897 Mobile: 021-0415 082
