This is the letter that starts: “We write as people who are frustrated with how much tax we pay. We want to pay more”.
They do not want to pay more themselves. What they actually want is other rich people to pay more tax. And you don’t have to take my word for it, I'll quote the guy who founded Ecostore, Malcom Rands, who signed the letter.
He was asked if he was offering to pay more tax if others weren’t also required, and he said no.
He said: "Even someone who's as big-hearted as me would not feel good paying more tax when other people aren't.”
That's the real test, isn’t it? Because if they wanted to pay more themselves, they would simply tax themselves like some wealthy people do, and then use that money for charity. For example, build a hospital for children like Mark Dunajtschik in Wellington.
This plea for more tax is not as benevolent as it looks, by the way.
Not all of these signatories are as wealthy as you might think. Names like Philip Mills of Les Mills gyms, yep. Sir Ian Taylor, absolutely.
But there are names on that list that are clearly not worth anywhere near the $50 million that would make them the kind of high net worth individuals that would’ve had IRD snooping around their tax for the last year.
In fact, I was so surprised by the list of random names on the list, that I called the people who helped coordinate the list. And they admitted that there was no benchmark for how rich you had to be to sign this letter.
It was opt in. You could simply decide that you felt rich and wanted to sign it. One of the people I raised with them, they said they thought was worth $5 million based on a Google search.
That is a long way from $50 million. That's a house and a couple of investment properties in Auckland nowadays. That's pretty much the aspiration of most mums and dads. There’s nothing special about that.
So let me ask you this- if extreme wealth is not the thing these signatories have in common, what is it really? Political leanings, maybe?
Philip Mills- one of Labour’s biggest donors.
Robyn Malcolm- long-time Green supporter.
Rob Campbell- long-time union man.
David Cunliffe, yes, David Cunliffe signed the letter- former Labour leader.
I suspect this is really an attempt to help a particular political party get a potential tax plan over the line. Because if they really want to pay more tax, pay it in charity.
Leave the rest of us who just want to own a home and a couple of investment properties alone.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show.
2 comments:
A moronic virtue signalling letter from a bunch of ideological morons with more money than sense; a perfect example of how you can not fix stupid. The scary thing is that they and their friends in the ever sycophantic media actually think they are making a righteous stance. Like many have pointed out though, there is nothing stopping them from making voluntary payments to IRD. But of course they won’t. I bet this is really their way of ensuring more resistance to CGT so they don’t get stung.
Interesting that the Gandalf of Grey Lynn was mentioned.
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