Hoots has the good oil once again…
Taxpayers’ Union to target Nicola Willis with major campaign on tax and debt – Matthew Hooton
THE FACTS
- The Taxpayers’ Union will launch a major campaign against Finance Minister Nicola Willis, criticising her economic record.
- They argue Willis is taxing, spending, and borrowing more than her predecessor, Grant Robertson.
- The campaign highlights concerns over rising debt, stagnant wages, and increasing living costs under Willis.
The funniest part of Hoot’s column is when he says this…
Union sources say they have searched their consciences
…the idea that anyone at the Taxpayers’ Union has a conscience is sidesplittingly hilarious.
You simply have to hand it to the Taxpayers’ Union, no other right wing astroturf dark money influencer outfit is as well resourced and sly as them.
The Left have NOTHING that can compete with these pricks in terms of influence over the debate OR policy.
The Taxpayers’ Union are a front group for alt right extremists and corporate interests, their capacity to manipulate the petty bigotries of muddle Nu Zilind are almost supernatural.
This friendly fire strategy to attack Nicola Willis is driven by one desire, and one desire only, to enable ACT to cannibalise National vote in the new highly polarised political media landscape shaped by social media hate algorithms.
It’s likely to work.
ACT’s amazing 10% in the last TVNZ Poll for 2025 places the Hard Right in a staggeringly strong position, their social media malice is working and the question has always been why would urban National voters keep voting for a Party as charmless as National when ACT offers so much more right wing spite.
There is something here for the Greens to learn from.
Labour’s only fear is an attack from the Left because it highlights their hollowness.
The Greens should over the next year hit Labour every time they speak:
“This Hateful right wing Government is terrible, and all Labour are offering is a slightly less cruel version, the Greens are the only major party offering a true alternative….”
The Greens should knock Labour every chance they get and use the same dynamics at play that the Hard Right are enjoying.
Taxpayers’ Union attacking Nicola Willis is a Machiavellian master stroke aimed at harvesting real political muscle for ACT at National’s expense.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
you say: The Left have NOTHING that can compete with these pricks in terms of influence over the debate OR policy.
ehhh, maybe, but maybe it’s a matter pf perspective. ACT don’t have to be careful, they don’t have to think ahead, their goal doesn’t include as many people as possible. Generally they don’t debate, not in terms seeking constructive ideas from considering opposing views. They argue, they manipulate, they refuse, they negate. Is that what debate is these days? Firing opinions into each other’s faces? Anyone can influence people with fear. Piece o piss. Easiest mode available. If the people who support Labour or Greens thought like that, they’d vote ACT.
So yes, any battle between Greens and Labour should be robust, but with workable solutions in mind. Not so careless as to scare bland comfortable would be voters into the National camp. You’d actually need viable ideas, and most of all be able to offer something better than fear. Maybe you don’t even need new ideas.
Perhaps the problem is that Labour don’t want to offer stability. Austerity is a tired and stupid idea, but real stability? Who offers that these days? Which party offers basic governance? Could they not leave activism to it’s own activities outside the House and instead make sure everyone is housed, fed, and can access long term stable work? Is that too amazing? What people do after work and on the weekend shouldn’t be a matter for government, or to put it another way, elections seem to be lost or won on non-essential ideas, while healthcare, employment, housing devolve.
Now that Labour are happy to watch local councils fall apart, they can take up the work they once did and start rebuilding the mess begun by Rogernomics. The Greens can offer solar panels, electric cars, some decent affordable cycling supply, and matching facilities at the employer end of the ride, for rich people who seem eager for that sort of luxury spending, and NZ can catch it’s breath and think about where they want to go next. No bash crash and smash required.
Things that made me go hmmm, I really, really like your suggestions.
Refreshing. Thanks!
Yes, the right aren’t aiming to make life better for most people so they can say and do whatever they like. They don’t have to appeal to the 90%. They know the 1% will fund them into power so that’s who they aim to please.
The left has to be careful that what they say they will do, is achievable. They need to be cautious and realistic.
Why would Labour and the greens want to be at war .Just look at the current Tamihere and the real Maori party shit fight .What Labour and the greens should be doing is getting together tomorrow and build policy that they can present to the voters next year .
The main thrust of that policy should be around ending poverty and homes ,jobs health and education for all .Get those 4 things sorted and NZ will boom .
Agreed 100% .
RED / GREEN split vote in 2026.
Use MMP to its maximum advantage.
Good thinking but Labour can’t be trusted to do more than the bare minimum. If we want change vote Green. Sad about TPM
have faith ,this time the greens will be full ministers inside cabinet ,Chloe may even get deputy PM .
Hence why we need a huge green party vote or Green MP’s in the 60 seats (Take a few off labour). Christchurch central for one may go Green.
Let there be no doubt. ..
Willis, Seymour and Bishop…the terrible 3 Finance Ministers… have drive the economy straight off the highest cliff in the land…
All overseen by the” I’m great with numbers” guy, Luxon..
And let there be no doubt…Labour had to borrow to cover all that Covid threw at it them …
a) Saves lives and
b)Save businesses
Add to that the cost of dealing with 7, one in 100 year, major weather events all compressed into a 4year window.
National and The Coalition of Clusterfuckery have had nothing even remotely like that come across their collective desks….and yet …over the cliff they took New Zealand.
On top of the cliff Labour had unemploment at 3.4 % and Treasury forecasts had us returning to surplus by late 2027…they also had the the deal of the century done with new essential state highway 1 state-of-the-art ferries ready for delivery in the next 2 to 3 months.
All this hard work… now destroyed…
Unemployment, now at 5.6 %, would be significantly higher if the mass exodus to Australia of 1 person every 7.5 minutes wasn’t happening…generational and brain drain loss before our eyes.
If Hooton thinks that ACT…a party having been run by a sex offender of young teenage boys , headed by a couple of 40 year virgins and some blinkered philistine pig ignorant misfits, is the answer to N.Z. problems and future, then he has learnt nothing …University was a waste of time for him…
Clearly deep unbalanced frontal cortex psychological issues are at play here, and, as will be the case with Trump, things will eventually end badly…no vision …no filter… no morals..
No future!
Grant you are spot on point.
Thank you, Grant. Your usual succinct and erudite summary spells out the whole shambles. All orchestrated by Mr. Impotent himself.
Re this ugly, toxic ‘Atlas’ Taxpayers’ Union – why would they bother to rock a boat they have taken part in building? They would have to be the most disloyal bunch of charlatans ever. It’s all about GREED, POWER, MONEY, MANIPULATION! There is simply no accountability from this immoral, unhinged mob! Can you imagine their meetings? Taking votes from National would barely make the end result any different. They are puffed up, with their own importance. Time for the world to wake up to these lunatic fringe groups – what goes around, comes around!
Yes gordon I agree with you and the Greens and Labour should also work on protecting our environments as the COC are destroying it all for money and calling it a tradeoff while saying New Zealanders are more worried about the cost of living.
yES IT IS GREEN POLICY TO HAVE JOBS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT .Imagine how many could be employed on building and installing solar on every home in NZ including every new home as part of the build .Then instead of boot camps we could have predator free camps instead where this young people spend 6 months learning bush craft and survival skills while baiting traps and other things to get rid of the colonial vermin .
Imagine how good for business the new ferries would have been, people would have booked them out months ahead just to ride them for the experience,businesses would have been able to double their goods over the cook straight with no worries. Willis is shameful because these ferries would have paid for themselves in a very short time and would have contributed to their so called growth agenda
Yes its bloody treason .
Willis is vindictive, spiteful and thick…a bad combination..
And Luxon, displaying woeful judgement , zero management skills and no nous, appointed her…and then to make matters worse, gave a greenhorne, know nothing about anything, Seymour, associate status ffs.
You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried…N.Z. is, and will continue to, pay dearly.
The taxpayers are doing a TPM and are starting to eat National from the inside .
Very good analogy.
Yes, the new state of the art ferries would have been and excellent asset to both Wellington and Picton and something much needed here in Wellington. The COC have no problem wanting to spend billions on roads.
But Willis has no class and Winstone has got us cheap shit from China that we have to wait four years to come to fruition (in the meantime costing us more) and Winstone might not be here by the time his new ferries arrive. And why has his ferry group employed a top-notch expensive lawyer to stop the newspapers from accessing information about procurement do they have something to hide
yep the real price and the fact that shore facilities are going to cost billions .
Reminds me of Scott Adams and his Dilbert business and economic cartoons. Then Adams did something that upset some people and now he isn’t popular Compare and contrast with our politicians especially Seymour, a lot of people see them making a disastrous mess of our nation and lives, and yet we can’t shift them from being top bananas even though they’re bent as anything.
Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel: A Guide to Outwitting Your Boss, Your Coworkers, and the Other Pants-Wearing Ferrets in Your Life –
[Dilbert holds a sign printed with UNATTENDED PILES OF MONEY – and beings with glazed expressions walk in the direction the sign points – over a cliff.]
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/006052149X
Labour and Greens need to double down on their own brands.
LABOUR. Everyone in work. Equal opportunity education. The actual solution to the housing crisis – more houses. First world health care.
For business. A pipeline of sovereign credit infrastructure investment. A massive investment kickstart ($billions) for a group of industry clusters, eg. niche pharma, medical equipment, fusion electric,
For farming. Additional tax credits on the marketing of value added products (If its good enough for the film industry!).
Get local councils onside by extending government interest rates to local councils by guaranteeing local infra bonds.
If there is one thing most National voters love from Labour its knowing they can expect and access good hospital care – FREE. Act and National put that at risk.
GREENS
EV transition and a massive new level of low cost electric generation to fix everyones electricity bills. If John Key can do pest free, the Greens can surely own, regulating and enforcing The Cleanest Rivers In The Developed World.
And a universal tax cut. No gst on any food item sold in a dairy or supermarket.
Sorry NZ cant afford further tax cuts at this time as we need to build a lot of new pipes and future proof fresh and waste water .We cant keep dumping waste into the oceans .The rest of your post is right on the money .However if your sovereign credit plan was adopted that might happen but the support of farmers to actually move away from selling bulk cheap milk powder will use what is collected from GST .Maybe the GST collected could be ring fenced to be invested in that type of development which could become a NZ owned company owned and funded by the people of nz not by any off shore corporation .It could become the first major investment by the new futures fund that Barbara wants to setup .
Gst off food at final point of sale is a purely redistributive policy. Its likely not going to affect overall tax take greatly but it would be a big benefit to ordinary people and the middle class or whats left of it who will be happy to receive it. Its a vote winner “why should people be forced to pay tax on the food they eat”, its a universal tax cut and acceptable across the political spectrum except for the Actite nutters who would hate that it helps the poor more than the rich. Of course nzinitiative technocrats would talk up some too hard for ird to implement bollocks on behalf of their donors but its not too hard to identify a supermarket or dairy and then not levy gst on food items in point of sale software.
The tax revenue loss may be about $4billion could be made up elsewhere say reverse the 3.9billion landlord tax cuts. NZ households overall would likely be 2 or 3 percent betteroff and beneficiary and poverty households maybe 5% betteroff.