Abbreviation NZTU Legal status Incorporated Society | Formation October 2013 Headquarters Wellington | |
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Type Pressure group and
Taxpayers union Purpose Championing value for money for every tax dollar | ||
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is a taxpayer pressure group founded in 2013 to scrutinise government spending; publicise government waste and promote an efficient tax system. It claims to be politically independent and not aligned to, or intended to develop into a political party.
Contents
Personal
The Union is chaired by a former Television New Zealand political editor, John Bishop.
The Union's co-founder and Executive Director is Wellington constitutional lawyer, Jordan Williams. Williams is most known for fronting the 'Vote for Change' campaign during the 2011 referendum on New Zealand's voting system. Williams previously worked at the law firm of former ACT MP Stephen Franks.
David Farrar co-founded the Union and sits on its Board of Directors. Farrar continues to be heavily involved in the National Government's campaign activities, as its pollster and was described by Prime Minister John Key as "the best pollster in New Zealand" during his victory speech on election night 2011. Farrar describes himself as "very pro economic liberalism", and has stated that the Taxpayers' Union is not "anti left or right" and "I suspect we will somewhat annoy whoever is in government at the time".
Activities
The Taxpayers' Union initiatives include public relations campaigns and paid advertising. Campaigns are intended to generate media interest and greater public involvement and support for fiscally conservative causes.
Its major campaigns have included reports on corporate welfare by the John Key-led government, commissioning independent costings of the election promises of all the major political parties during the 2014 election, and league tables comparing the performance of local government organisations.
In January 2014, the Union released internal ACC documents suggesting that $19 million awarded to the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and Business New Zealand had been wasted. Soon afterward the scheme was scraped.
In June 2014 the Union partnered with Fairfax Media to produce local government league tables, labeled "The Ratepayers' Report".
The Union also operates a confidential 'tip line' for members of the public and government officials to report examples of government waste.