Friday 28th Apr 2000
Richard Prebble
Media Release -- Economy
The ACT Party warned Parliament that the removal of tax returns would work against taxpayers, ACT leader Richard
Prebble said today.
“ACT has called for the Inland Revenue Department to provide each taxpayer with an annual summary of their tax position.
Now, possibly as many as 100,000 taxpayers will not be able to get that because, after what they describe as teething
problems, the department has no record of any tax being paid,” Mr Prebble said.
“By law, the taxpayer is responsible for the payment of income tax and some innocent taxpayers will face heavy penalties
as a result of this mess.”
Mr Prebble said the Treasurer, Dr Cullen, and the Labour Party voted for the tax change and rejected amendments moved by
ACT’s Rodney Hide which would have ensured every taxpayer would be informed of their tax position.
“Parliament insists the private sector provides consumer information. For example, superannuation schemes must give
every saver regular financial updates, but all the parties voted against ACT’s plan to let taxpayers know how much tax
they are paying!
“The proposal is not fair. The tax simplification was never designed to help taxpayers, but to help politicians hide how
high the effective tax rate is from the public. The government has been caught by it’s own trickiness,” Mr Prebble said.
ENDS
For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at
act@parliament.govt.nz.