An article in the Christchurch Press of 1 August about Ngai Tahu claims that some profits from
the iwi’s operations go to the tribal members in annual distributions and that
the exemption from income tax benefits iwi members and not Ngai Tahu Property.
I beg to differ, as an analysis of the annual returns filed by the Ngai Tahu
Charitable Group on the Charities Register tell a different story.
I
suspect that the annual distributions are made by the Maori Authority that is a
part of Ngai Tahu, with the Authority paying income tax at 17.5 cents in the
dollar.
For the six years from 2009, when the Group first filed an Annual
Return, to 2014 the Ngai Tahu Charitable Group distributed only $1.5 million by
way of grants and donations, which is .11% of the Group’s gross income of $1.4
billion.
The Group has 33 limited liability trading companies which
generated this income.
The Group made taxable net surpluses in 2010, 2012, 2013
and 2014 of $283 million on which the income tax at the company rate
would be $80 million.
The Group also holds land valued at $172 million
some of which no doubts attracts ratings concessions as well.
I would
also be interested to know where the unexplained increase in the general
accumulated funds of $200 million came from.
As a taxpayer subsidised
charity the Group need to explain why they distribute so little, yet pay no
income tax on their significant surpluses which gives them a competitive
advantage in their trading activities, in order to justify their income tax
exempt status.
An extract of the analysis can be seen below:
Dr Michael Gousmett FCIS PhD BCom(Hons) BBS Dip CM Dip Tchg is an Independent Researcher and Director of New Zealand Third Sector Enterprises Ltd: “Promoting Integrity in Non-profit Performance”.
5 comments:
At last someone is asking a question many of us have been asking for some time. I hope this gets into mainstream media so the public start asking this question of the government.
Thanks for the article. Could you clarify please. Do the companies that Ngai Tahu own, such as Shotover Jet, Glacier Guides, Rainbow Springs, Go Bus transport etc pay company tax at 28%? Or do they generally move profits quickly into the charitable organisation and take advantage of the tax breaks? What I don't understand, is whether Ngai Tahu takes its profits from the commercial business AFTER tax (As I have to) or if they can sweep the profits out before company tax? Any facts are useful please.
Is there any way we can get a list of Maori owned companies, as I would like to boycott any of their businesses. I feel that Maori get enough of my hard earned money through taxes and bogus Treaty claims without me giving them any more.
Re Ngai Tahu: All of their companies, including those listed above, are exempt from income tax having been registered with the charities regulator, Charities Services. They pay no income tax on the profits generated by the activities of those companies.
What is needed is public pressure to encourage a government to take this matter seriously. In particular, large-scale trading by charities in the UK is taxed and has been since the 1920's; why is this not the same in NZ?
Michael
The question of the unfair charitable status of |Ngai Tahu companies has not been addressed because no government is brave enough to challenge Maori organisations. Most of our politicians are too gutless .
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