Just one sleep until the political silly season comes to an end and most of the political parties have used this week to publish their final ‘manifestos’.
But unlike our friends in the legacy media, we actually read them!
This week James and his team discovered a massive $1.2 billion policy in Labour’s newly published manifesto that doesn’t appear in Labour’s “fully costed” fiscal plan!
This is now the fourth cock-up, sorry, “fiscal hole” we’ve found in Labour’s numbers… No wonder we’re not on Chippy’s Christmas card list!
We also released a new “Ratepayers’ Guide” on which parties are supporting ratepayer-friendly policies.We launched our latest TV advert, and made headlines in the NZ Herald exposing the 36 public servants on fully paid gardening leave to not work from home. In the case of two Police staff, they’ve been on paid ‘leave’ for six years!
Plus, ACT’s Tāmaki candidate (and former Nat staffer) James Christmas joins Peter Williams on Taxpayer Talk.
What about ratepayers? New election guide puts councils under the microscope 
Politicians have spent plenty of time this year talking about the cost of living, taxes, and government spending.
But there’s an expensive household bill that’s barely featured in the campaign: council rates.
And as ratepayers across the country know all too well, those bills aren’t getting any smaller!
This week, we published The Ratepayers’ Guide to Election 2026, examining where the political parties stand on local government reform.Our guide looks at three key questions:
Will parties cap increases in rates, fees and levies at inflation?Will they keep councils focused on essential services and infrastructure?And will communities get a binding vote before council amalgamations?
While National’s Simon Watts has proposed a rates cap, it wouldn’t take effect until 2029 and excludes water charges. Meanwhile Labour favours a scheme allowing households to defer rates payments, while the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and Opportunity oppose rates capping.
The report also examines whether elected councillors have sufficient access to the information they need to scrutinise council spending.
Another $1.2 billion of spending conspicuously absent from Labour’s “comprehensive” fiscal plan?
Labour’s manifesto and its fiscal plan are supposed to tell the same story. But our research team has spotted another expensive discrepancy…
Labour’s manifesto promises to increase main benefits by inflation or average wage growth, whichever is higher. The problem? That commitment doesn’t appear in its published costings.
Our research team estimates Labour’s benefit-indexation promise would cost an additional $1.233 billion over the period covered by its fiscal plan.
That’s approximately $595 per Kiwi household, with the annual cost climbing to more than half a billion dollars in 2030/31 alone.And this isn’t the first discrepancy our team has identified. Labour has already reissued its fiscal plan following a $90 million calculation error raised by the Taxpayers’ Union.
With election day approaching, voters deserve to know how the promises in a party’s manifesto are reflected in its fiscal plan.Of course, making promises is one thing. Delivering on them is quite another.
Big promises, expensive failures: Our latest ‘We Can’t Afford Labour’ TV advert 
This week, we’ve released the latest advert in our We Can’t Afford Labour campaign, putting the spotlight on the gap between Labour’s big promises and what taxpayers actually got for their money.
Remember KiwiBuild? Labour promised 100,000 affordable homes, but delivered barely two percent in six years.
And what about Auckland’s light rail to the airport? Nearly $250 million spent, without a single metre of track being laid.Well, here’s our reminder for voters…From KiwiBuild and light rail to the covid-19 “vaccine” rollout under Chris Hipkins’ watch, the advert revisits some of the previous Labour Government’s most controversial delivery failures.
Watch our latest We Can’t Afford Labour advert
Remember the $500k gardening leave rort? Well, there’s more… 
After we learned of former Lotto presenter Russell Harrison collecting half a million dollars in taxpayer-funded salary while suspended from the Ministry of Justice for five years, our investigations team got digging to see whether he was the only one enjoying an extended taxpayer-funded holiday…And it turns out there are dozens of public servants still on paid suspension!
This week the NZ Herald picked up our latest Official Information Act requests, revealing that six Corrections employees had been on paid special leave for more than a year, including one for a whopping 787 days.
Meanwhile, two Police employees had spent a combined 2,763 days on suspension or restricted duties. That’s more than seven and a half years between them!
And despite Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith ordering agencies to get a grip on these cases back in August, 36 public servants were still on paid suspension two months later.Of course, employment investigations need to be handled fairly. But surely taxpayers can expect these cases to be dealt with promptly?As our Investigations Lead Rhys Hurley said:“How many more Russell Harrisons are currently sitting on garden leave with their responsible minister none the wiser?”Government closes the track, then takes the cash!
Whatever your views on greyhound racing, here’s something that should raise a few eyebrows…Having already decided to shut down the industry, the Government now wants to seize Greyhound Racing New Zealand’s remaining assets.That’s millions of dollars in assets built up over generations by people involved in the sport.Our spokesman Rhys Hurley has slammed the move, arguing that the Government shouldn’t be able to simply take an industry’s assets because politicians have decided it should no longer exist.
And it raises a rather uncomfortable question: if the Government can shut down one industry and take its assets, what’s stopping it from doing the same to another?
As Rhys put it: “Property rights mean nothing if they disappear the moment politicians decide they no longer like your business.”Taxpayer Talk: James Christmas on jumping ship and tactical voting 
Why did a former National Party insider jump ship to ACT?
This week, ACT’s Tāmaki candidate James Christmas, one of the candidates at Tuesday’s Tāmaki electorate debate, joins Peter Williams on Taxpayer Talk to discuss his battle for Brooke van Velden’s former seat, tactical voting, and why he believes National has become too cautious.
From the Treaty Principles Bill and judicial overreach to government spending and his public clash with Winston Peters over abortion, there’s plenty to unpack!
Watch the full podcast on YouTube
We have asked National’s local candidate, Mahesh Muralidhar, onto the podcast but are yet to hear back…And speaking of the Tāmaki electorate race, thank you to those who turned out for the rambunctious and lively debate on Tuesday.
If you missed it, you can watch on demand over on the NZHerald.co.nz website.
It was a great debate to end a fantastic series. Thank you to everyone who watched or attended, to our brilliant hosts Damien and Anna, and to the candidates up and down the country for being such good sports.Enjoy the rest of your week.
Tory Relf
Head of Comms, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union