In Kapiti the committee of Concerned Ratepayers Kapiti is working hard to reduce KCDC’s imposts, but it’s not the only example.
With the Budget out of the way, the team at the Taxpayers’ Union are turning their attention to their next major campaign.
As Ratepayers, you and I know very well that our councils are broken. Unaccountable, secretive, and increasingly undemocratic with their unelected iwi and youth ‘appointments’ (with full pay and voting rights!) – enough is enough!
Voting papers in local body elections start hitting mailboxes in just over 100 days.
That means we have just 100 days to fix local government – but we need your support
I’m just back from meeting the campaign team to review the campaign strategy. And let’s just say, they’ve got some big plans!
While it’s vital the Taxpayers’ Union continue to snuff out and publicly expose wasteful council spending (and we all know there is plenty!) without democratic accountability and structural change to how local government works, nothing will change.
I’m asking for your support today, so the Taxpayers’ Union can:
- A nationwide “Rates Cap Now” campaign to force Simon Watts (the new Local Government Minister) not to cave into LGNZ’s pressure.
Without UK/Australian-style rates capping, 15 percent annual rates will be the norm. - Identify, promote, and hold to account candidates who stand for councils, sticking to the basic “three Rs”: Roads, Rubbish, and Reticulation (i.e. water).
The team want to build a comprehensive “how to vote” website. - Draft and promote a Ratepayer Bill of Rights Law to guarantee councils stick to the basics, do it well, and cannot screw the scrum with undemocratic appointments to influence decision making.
We’ve even got an MP who says they’re willing to sponsor it in Parliament. But we need the funds to instruct lawyers to draft the law. - Publish a 2025 edition of their renowned “Ratepayers’ Report” council financial league tables.
We know the Council bureaucrats hate these! They really expose the councils trying to pull the wool over local communities.
Unless we get behind this effort to fix councils, nothing will change.
If it weren’t for the efforts of the Taxpayers’ Union, New Zealand would have been lumped with Three Waters. We’d still have the ‘ute tax’. Labour would have got away with their attempt to hike taxes on Kiwisaver. And we’d still be playing whale music to trees!!
My point is this: the Taxpayers’ Union shifts the dial. But unless we get behind them so that they can tackle local government, we can’t complain when nothing changes!
When the staff were giving me their presentation, I went onto the website and made a substantial donation because I am sick and tired of councils getting away with blue murder.
While local councils across the country are throwing money at the wall, they say there’s no money for fixing potholes or upgrading pipes.
The Taxpayers’ Union’s role is to expose the truth and demonstrate where the money is really going (hint: it’s not in roads and pipes, almost universally, the extra money has been ploughed into payroll – both an explosion in numbers and fat pay packets!).
But the Taxpayers’ Union can’t hold Councils to account without your support today.
 |  Peter WilliamsFinancial Supporter and Former Board Member New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union |
I got this Peter Williams thing in an e mail from one of our challenging councils group up here in Northland. You will see below my reply and I thought I would post it here Greetings all,
Another request for money from Taxpayers Union. The only time I hear from them is when they have their hand out. I probably risk being burned at the stake for heresy for what I am about to say, but I am going to say it anyway,
I am beginning to have to have some doubts about the “bona fides” of taxpayers union. “Fifth Column” comes to mind
1)They made a big thing about their Budget Balancing Hikoi or whatever. Surely they know, or, if they don’t, they should, that no budget can be balanced under the present fractional reserve, scam banking, debt money system.
2)They talk about reducing waste and taxes but, as far as I have seen, they have never said anything about a financial transaction tax. I wrote a while ago to a guy at NBR who had written about financial transaction tax and asked where New Zealand political parties stood on the subject. He informed me that not a single political party in New Zealand was in favour of it. That didn’t come as a surprise, because if we had a financial transaction tax, it would be of enormous benefit to “We The People” but would make the politicians’ handlers start paying tax, which they don’t do now. You may be interested to know that Grey Power, at their annual conference in Christ church in 2016 I think it was, adopted Financial Transaction Tax as official Grey Power policy. The government(s) were not interested back then, as now, and Grey Power eventually ceased to have it as their policy. Here is a link to a very good paper on it https://hal.science/hal-00530144v3 The Americans are working on a similar thing called “Fair Tax Act 2023-HR25” Here is a link to it with all the wording https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/25
The FairTax Act of 2023 (H.R. 25) is a bill proposed by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) that seeks to replace the current U.S. tax code with a national consumption tax. This “Fair Tax” would abolish income tax, payroll tax, and estate/gift taxes, replacing them with a single, national sales tax. The proposed sales tax rate is 23%, with adjustments in subsequent years, and the states would be responsible for administering, collecting, and remitting the tax. Here is a link to the full text of HR25 Text – H.R.25 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): FairTax Act of 2025
As far as “We need to fix councils before it’s too late. under the present system we can never fix councils because they are simply local puppets of the national puppeteers who are puppets of their international and supra national puppeteers. I will wait for the firestorm, fortunately I am thick skinned.
Kindest regards,
Geoff. Waterhouse
P.S. If anybody wants to forward this to Peter Williams and/or Taxpayers Union, feel free.
I will wait for the firestorm Back up or head to our homepage
Text – H.R.25 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): FairTax Act of 2025
Text for H.R.25 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): FairTax Act of 2025
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Like us, the TPU and the Free Speech Union, and many others challenging the establishment rely on donations to pay their outgoings, so requests for them are understandable. Nobody is likely to agree with a Pressure Group/political party on everything; it’s a majority thing. In our opinion the TPU does a good job overall.