Christopher Luxon – why not a boot camp for tax dodgers?
These are our biggest criminals who steal massive sums from us every day – living parasitic lives and paying buggar all to the Common Good.
We can’t entirely blame rich pricks for the piddling amounts of tax they pay – politicians relying on big corporate donations have seen to it that the unearned incomes and wealth of this elite are barely touched by tax. With their fat wallets and easy access to the corridors of power they have rigged the system so they pay far smaller proportions of their incomes in tax than the low-income parents of young ram raiders.
But still they steal.
Economist Gareth Morgan believes New Zealand could be missing out on up to 25 percent of total income tax because the rich aren’t paying their fair share. Imagine what we could do with an extra $8 billion each year – fix the health system, build thousands of state houses and invest in public transport.
$8 billion is massive.
We need a boot camp for these recidivist, lifelong, tax-dodging bludgers who steal from us every day – daylight robbery in fact. A diet of weetbix and 2-minute noodles for three months would focus their minds on the importance of contributing to their community. Community service would also help – after they have had a cold shower in the morning they can pitch in and help out in rest homes or as assistants to teacher aides.
With ankle bracelets, coarse wool blankets, army discipline and intensive wraparound support some of them might turn their lives around. We won’t know till we give it a go. Come on Chris – surely you are up to the challenge!
The first few batches of these criminals going through boot camp might just provide a windfall of taxation we haven’t seen before. The power of positive example.
But before you establish this boot camp for tax dodgers Mr Luxon you will need to actually spend some money tracking them down. I know you will agree that stealing $8 billion from us every year is a serious criminal situation but to get National Party members onside with this proposal you need to call the criminals out for what they are – fraudsters, bloodsuckers, parasites – you know, the same way your MPs talk about beneficiaries at National Party conferences. Just give Paula Bennett a call for some pointers.
It might make things a bit difficult at your next home barbecue – none of your friends may turn up. But let’s face it Chris – who needs thieves for friends? These people stealing $8 billion from us every year are the really big criminals. They are boils on the backside of our community.
Tackle them full on Chris. Otherwise you risk confirming the old saying that jails are where the big criminals put all the little criminals.
We can’t possibly jail these people, they donate to charities…
No, they lend the money to them, and then get it back through the taxpayer.. In reality, it costs them nothing, but gets them good publicity..
Put both the tax dodgers and ram raiders in boot camps.
This article is a disappointment! Minto, if you are so stressed about $8b, why don’t you speak to your bestie, who is currently in charge? The current party is more in love with tax, spend and waste.
It will be good if Minto critically analysed Luxons proposed policy, and stay on topic, instead of going in tangents.
Minto has consistently criticised Labour around a range of issues including State Housing. How does that make them/her his Bestie.
He hasn’t voted labour for at least 25 years!
Analysing the policy is not hard, it failed last time and cost $418,000 per person.
Look at the underlying issues at the top of the cliff not the bottom.
It feeds Benny’s right wing bias.
We have the left in charge, Labour together with Greens. If they haven’t tackled the $8b in past 5 years, it definitely won’t be the right parties who advocate for lower tax. Hence Minto going on a rant attacking Luxon is pointless.
In terms of failed policy, it is difficult to know if what is being proposed is exactly the same as last time or something different. Until we understand the details, it is difficult to criticize and write it off.
All we know that whatever we are doing today is not working.
Benny please don’t insist on Labour being on the left they are not.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/boot-camps-a-cliche-says-former-national-minister-chester-borrows/V3U2BOK6RNCRVAXVNZMTLO6RRY/
Same as last time, from one of their own.
What I don’t get is National dumped the idea themselves when it didn’t work but then have campaigned on it again. The scheme had high reoffending rates and a relatively high cost. Aren’t National banging on about wasting money? Why don’t you just force offenders into a compulsory apprenticeship rather than lumping them together to get fit. Guess they are against free tertiary education too
They have shown these boot camps don’t work, just as the UK found. Australia proved the removal of gang patches didn’t work either but no let’s do that as well. ZB types will scream ‘we have to do something’. Fair enough, but not wasting money on proven non starters.
I love it.
The term ” intensive wrap around support” sends a chill of dread down my spine and I’d so love these bastards to have a taste of it.
+100
But tax dodgers are a separate issue; the crux here is trying to get young persons onto a pathway which will lead to them becoming fulfilled, decent sort of adult human beings, and not tax dodgers, exploiters, societal parasites, and certain sorts of politicians.
It’s simple, National see tax dodgers as clever entrepreneurs and money manipulators. Knighthoods are appropriate, not prison or boot camps.
Tax dodgers fund right wing politics, so that is why nothing is done.
Yep Peter. Sir? Michael Fay comes to mind. A man on public record of stating he was proud of how little tax he had ever paid. Plus a penchant for ripping off small shareholders due to New Zealand’s lax securities laws. He should have been jailed not knighted.
Yes Sylvian, so many in that group of millionaires I would like to see in jail, along with their political enablers.
Over75 tax havens in the world,most run by the West…..cui bono?
Yes agreed lots of them hiding fortures from the tax man. These people don’t give a hoot about the society they live in.
As all the Labour supporters are condemning the ideas put forward by Luxon can you please spare some time to explain how well they are dealing with the current young offenders.
I agree with JM that tax dodgers need to be deal with as well but he needs to take note that most of the dodging is done legally by accountants following the letter of the law set down by parliment. Both sides set this rules so it is in their hands to fix the problem. The charity status of many churches is the first port of call .
The current young offenders grew up under a National ACT, Maori and United Future government. This same policy was used back then.and it failed.
Why the attack on left supporters for pointing out the obvious. Perhaps National supporters, instead of being so tribal point out Nationals failures and ask Luxon to come up with policy to attack the root cause, society failures.
Trevor he is quite an intelligent man so of course he knows that much of it is legal. Don’t we all want them to tighten the rules so that this is no longer possible. And keep tightening them everytime they find a loophole.
For God’s sake! Don’t people realise that the ‘Boot Camp’ idea is not about solving crime?
It is because National party and ACT supporters get sexually aroused when they hear the words ‘tough on crime’ and ‘harsh punishment for young people’. Look for the sudden bulge in Chris Luxon’s pants when he mentions it.
“Targeting Maori and Pasifka youth’ equals massive right wing orgasms
It’s kind of astonishing to hear someone come out with this type of stuff in 2022. Are voters really that stupid and easy to manipulate? The only thing that can save us from this dribble is young voters. There will be more of them soon than the reactionary talk radio audience members that underpin NActionals political strategy and voter base. Perhaps an uptick in COVID across this population voters will also help to reduce the electoral impact.
My brother got sent to a boot camp (in NZ) and got abused and got a big pay out from our government. Another backward idea from a party that keeps on doing u turns. And why would our military want to babysit and stand over bad kids when they didn’t want to babysit covid patients, they didn’t join the forces to do that kind of work.
Sorry to hear about your brother covid is pa.
Good points and maybe they need to do what they can to ensure that there is no abuse (independent monitoring etc) and have someone other than the army run this (as yes this is not the role of the military – maybe ex-military engaged as contractors)?
And what about fraudster and white collar crims Thomas
Chris together with tough love we can recover the jewels from these tax evaders.
Well said John,
Bootcamps, “tough on Crime” and “[Prison] relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.” Angela Davis
Great quote!
I am not sure why the hell we are comparing an actual crime, as in destroying someone’s property and theft, to the tax issue? Are we talking about tax avoidance or tax evasion? Bleat all you like; tax avoidance is not the same as evasion. Bratwurst mentioned Sanitarium and Tainui as being tax exempt. Hello! Thats not against the law. Change the tax law by all means but be clear what you mean in by dodging. Morality doesn’t come into it. Close the bloody loopholes
Well said .
Look at the cost of shelter and start there – fuckin parasites alright.
Do the dis-enfranchised just eviscerate themselves in the streets? or raise a middle finger and become outlaws? It won’t stop until the mis-use of capital is thrown to the curb along with avarice and greed.
John does not seem to be taking into account that many “tax dodgers” would be quite elderly. In their case boot camps would not be appropriate.
Slipper and incontinence pant camps then.
Lets face it with National and its current leader is that whilst he resorts to Flip-Flop statements and policies he may as well be holding a bed leg and beating the crap out of others to prove a point that he is boss and no-one should ever contradict him or alter his statements.
I truly do pity the Wannabe National MP for Hamilton West because he(the Wannabe MP)has to contend with an imbecile as a leader whereas I think he has better judgment and intelligence than Luxon can ever achieve.
And then he wakes up the next morning and realises what a dedicated follower of contradiction he truly is.
Sadly for National is by some weird reason of logic I am sure none of us can quite figure out is they regurgitate like a Muldoon Infused Booze Quest the same failed policies of the past but with supposedly inspirational new Mantra meanings to them.
It’s much like National still beating the way out-dated NZ National Party Blame-Game Drum that should as in the case of real adults be consigned to the past like all the failed policies National should have done over the years.
But NO. National have wallowed into the realms of negativity and as a result have now rendered themselves incapable of consigning their Blame Game Drum to the past let alone them admitting they made mistakes whilst in government.
To National to admit they made mistakes whilst in government is like me holding my out stretched hand out to the wind and demand it stop blowing.
I do get the impression that white collar crims on fraud counts do get a lighter deal when it comes to having clever(and expensive) lawyers than those beneficiary’s that commit benefit crime.
I used to work for WINZ and now over the years have noticed how hard National comes down on beneficiaries whilst casting a blind eye to some of their even former National MPs that were bought before the courts for fraud and of course naturally for National GREED
The article you referenced in The Standard was all over the place.
> You referred to ‘tax dodgers’ in your headline
> The Standard article referred to ‘tax evasion’
> But Gareth Morgan talked of ‘tax avoidance’
Just to be clear, tax evasion is a criminal act, and I doubt any of the rich list are engaged in it because they’re too visible. Tax evasion in NZ is mostly small business operators doing ‘cashies’ thus evading both income tax and GST.
Tax avoidance is the perfectly legal practice of structuring your income to minimize tax. I presume we all do this to some extent, unless you good folk send cheques to Grant Robinson as an act of charity.
Meanwhile, thanks to inflation and the resultant bracket creep, the Treasury is overflowing with revenue, a lot of which is being misspent by the government. e.g. 370 million spent on the amalgamation of RNZ and TVNZ, when we aren’t paying nurses enough to retain them.
Come on Andrew. Minto has been around long enough to know that there are two strands to the tax issue and that some of it is legal because the government won’t change the loop holes.
And the idea that the billions come from cash jobs that tradies and others do is pretty ridiculous.
Of course there will be high profile wealthy people who are ripping off the system.
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