Kerre Woodham: I'd be happy to pay more tax if I was confident it wouldn't be wasted

An open letter to the public and the politicians of Aotearoa New Zealand has called for people to pay more tax, specifically people who are financially comfortable should pay more tax.

The signatories to the letter point out that the cost of the Cyclone Gabrielle clean up and the need to future proof our infrastructure against more climate change events, the children living in poverty and misery, the need to fund the social services and payments that assist our communities, if we paid more we would get more.

We would get a better result.

They've called upon New Zealanders who live and work in this country to back a tax system that asks more from those who can most afford it - and they have signed their names.

They're being very transparent and open about who they are and what they stand for, and good on them. Many of them are not in the IRD’s top 300 families, so we're not necessarily talking about the billionaires. We're talking about, people who, as they describe, are financially comfortable. They can pay the bills, pay the mortgage.  

I've said before, and I mean it, that I take enormous pride in being able to pay a good whack of my salary and taxes. I love feeling like I'm contributing to a community I love and I have a stake in.

But I bloody resent it when I feel like my money is being squandered and that is how I felt pretty much since they announced the Provincial Growth Fund, which was basically a thank you very much to New Zealand First for putting Labour into Government.  

There has got to be a sensible accounting of our money and what I fear is that this Government has been so wasteful, so ideologically blinkered, so cavalier about the way they've thrown money around, that I don't trust them.

I know that there are a million things my taxpayer dollars could be spent on that would materially improve the lot of many New Zealanders, and I would be happy to contribute.

Provided you show me how the money is spent and what results have been achieved as a result of that money being spent. And I don't think that that is being unreasonable.

So all well and good, this open letter has gone out, we're happy to pay more taxes. I would add a caveat. I want to see a letter back from the Government accounting for what they've spent and showing the results of that investment and then I'll think about adding my name.

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