Haste is urged to repeal tax legislation – and to stymie publication of the first IRD report on tax system’s fairness
Political journalists working for the mainstream media have demonstrated since the election that they need scant prompting to go looking for muck to fling at a coalition government they make no secret of disdaining.
On No Right Turn, Idiot/Savant has given them a prompt anyway.
He says he expects they will be putting the Official Information Act to good use to learn what might have gone into a report on the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of the tax system, against a specified set of measurements and principles.
Idiot/Savant reckons the first report – required by the end of the year under the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023, enacted earlier this year – would throw up further evidence of the need to tax the rich more and identify other problems in the tax system.
But the government must not have liked what the report says, because it intends repealing the law under all-stages urgency to prevent its publication.
Of course, the report, and its drafts and associated correspondence are all official information. They are – unless National has a giant illegal shredder party – held. Which means that they can simply be requested under the OIA. And I expect every political journalist in the country is doing that right now.
The government’s intention to repeal the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023 was announced in the past 24 hours and posted on the government’s official website along with news of prime ministerial travel plans (Christopher Luxon is bound for Australia); the appointment of someone to a job requiring observational skills (serving as a Crown observer of Health New Zealand), and a good old-fashioned job for the boys (former Prime Minister Bill English will conduct an independent review into Kāinga Ora).
A bundle of appointments was included in a statement on the first steps of the government’s 100-day plan for education.
Starting from Term 1 2024, all students in Years 0 – 8 will be taught reading, writing and maths for an average of one hour a day in each subject.
The Ministry of Education will provide guidance and support to assist schools with the implementation of these changes.
Effective from Term 2 2024, students will need to put their cellphone away for the day and schools will be required to have a cellphone policy in place by then.
And (here come the jobs) 12 people have been appointed to a Ministerial Advisory Group to review the primary school English, maths and statistics curricula.
Idiot/Savant reckons the first report – required by the end of the year under the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023, enacted earlier this year – would throw up further evidence of the need to tax the rich more and identify other problems in the tax system.
But the government must not have liked what the report says, because it intends repealing the law under all-stages urgency to prevent its publication.
Of course, the report, and its drafts and associated correspondence are all official information. They are – unless National has a giant illegal shredder party – held. Which means that they can simply be requested under the OIA. And I expect every political journalist in the country is doing that right now.
The government’s intention to repeal the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023 was announced in the past 24 hours and posted on the government’s official website along with news of prime ministerial travel plans (Christopher Luxon is bound for Australia); the appointment of someone to a job requiring observational skills (serving as a Crown observer of Health New Zealand), and a good old-fashioned job for the boys (former Prime Minister Bill English will conduct an independent review into Kāinga Ora).
A bundle of appointments was included in a statement on the first steps of the government’s 100-day plan for education.
Starting from Term 1 2024, all students in Years 0 – 8 will be taught reading, writing and maths for an average of one hour a day in each subject.
The Ministry of Education will provide guidance and support to assist schools with the implementation of these changes.
Effective from Term 2 2024, students will need to put their cellphone away for the day and schools will be required to have a cellphone policy in place by then.
And (here come the jobs) 12 people have been appointed to a Ministerial Advisory Group to review the primary school English, maths and statistics curricula.
Latest from the Beehive
19 DECEMBER 2023
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti is appointing a Crown observer to Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora, citing significant ongoing challenges around the 2022 health reforms.
Today the Government has introduced changes to ensure all children get a world-leading education, with all primary and intermediate students to be taught an average of one hour a day of each of reading, writing and maths and the distraction of cellphones to be removed from classrooms.
The Government is today introducing and progressing under urgency a Bill to repeal the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023, Revenue Minister Simon Watts says.
18 DECEMBER 2023
The Government has announced an independent review into Kāinga Ora, fulfilling another of its first 100-day plan commitments.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will travel to Sydney on 20 December to meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The kick-off point for our buzz today was the announcement that the Government is introducing and progressing under urgency a Bill to repeal the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023.
As Revenue Minister Simon Watts pointed out, the Act required Inland Revenue to report annually on tax measures against a set of tax principles.
This would have been a work generator, too.
“The bureaucracy it would have entailed is completely unnecessary. This Government is committed to directing taxpayer resources to their best use and repealing this Act is consistent with that,” Watt says.
“Requiring Inland Revenue to produce additional annual reports would take extra resources at a time when our focus should be on higher priority measures to address the cost of living and get the government’s books back in order.”
It was necessary to pass the Tax Principles Reporting Act Repeal Bill under urgency because the Act requires Inland Revenue to report under the Act by 31 December unless it is repealed prior, Watts explained.
It is fair to suppose much of the work has been done, which is why Idiot/Savant has cause to regards the repeal as a hasty attempt to bury the evidence.
Back in 2020, he recalls, IRD began a hugely controversial (among rich people) study of how much tax the rich are actually paying.
Earlier this year, it reported what we all knew: the rich aren’t paying their fair share. The government refused to act on that, but they did pass a law, the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023, requiring IRD to report annually on the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of the tax system, against a specified set of measurements and principles. Effectively, this would provide ongoing evidence of the need to tax the rich more, as well as of any other problems in the tax system.
Repealing the law under all-stages urgency to prevent its publicationin effect is an attempt to bury the evidence.
But journalists are reminded that drafts of the report and associated correspondence are all official information.
That means they can be flushed out under Official Information Act.
Let’s see what comes of the blogger’s advice…
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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