GUEST BLOG: Andrew Little – Multinationals

Right now, some multinational corporations aren’t paying their fair share of tax in New Zealand. Many are using complex accountancy schemes to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in tax – and leaving it up to the rest of us to pick up the tab.

This is an issue of fairness. Working New Zealanders know they are taxed directly from their pay cheque, because that’s how we pay for vital services like our hospitals, police and schools.

It’s not right these overseas-owned companies get a free ride and escape paying the tax that the rest of us do.

The IRD says there is $600m of tax that multinationals will dodge over the next three years, and the Government’s not planning to collect it. We’ll recover that and invest it back into homes, hospitals and schools.

I know from travelling around the country that overseas speculators and multinationals taking advantage of us is an issue which New Zealanders care deeply about. It’s important, and that’s why I want to ramp up this issue during the election campaign this year – on the campaign trail, in our ads and in my debates with Bill English.

And when I do that, I want to show the level of public support behind our crack down on multinational tax dodgers.

Yesterday, I wrote to the largest multinational corporations in New Zealand putting them on notice. In my letter, I laid out Labour’s plans to crack down on tax avoidance and told them that if they don’t start paying their fair share, we’ll introduce a ‘diverted profit tax’ to ensure multinationals pay tax in New Zealand.

For the past nine years, National has gone soft on tax evaders. I won’t let the rort continue.

If you’re with me, click here to sign the petition calling on multinationals paying their fair share now.

Thanks,

Andrew Little
Labour Leader