Tax Justice campaign hits the streets, unveils new cartoon

Tax Justice activists will be hitting the streets over the next few days collecting signatures for a parliamentary petition that calls for GST to be removed from food and a tax placed on financial speculation.

Tax Justice media spokesperson Victor Billot says “The level of interest in the campaign has sky rocketed in the last few days as people start to consider the impact of the GST hike on their already stretched weekly budgets.”

He says people are concerned and angry that income tax cuts are going to the already wealthy, while for most of us the tax cuts will be wiped out by the GST going up to 15% and the coming spike in food prices (see Tax Justice media release, 26 September, http://www.nogstonfood.org/2010/09/26/tax-cuts-will-be-wiped-out-by-food-price-bubble/)

Members of the public can support the campaign by signing the petition and circulating it to friends, family and workmates. Copies of the petition can be downloaded from www.nogstonfood.org

“We’d like people to help us reach our target of 10,000 signatures in two days,” says Mr Billot. “If we can get that many signatures in such a short space of time, it’s because grassroots people are passionate about wanting changes to New Zealand’s current unfair tax system.”

The Facebook page for the campaign has grown rapidly over the last few days, increasing to nearly 4,000 supporters, with no sign of slowing down. See appendix below for a selection of comments made by supporters of the ‘No GST on Food’ Facebook page over the last 24 hours.

Mr Billot says Labour’s new policy to remove GST from fresh fruit and vegetables is a step in the right direction, but GST should be taken off all food. This would deliver a universal tax cut bigger than most people will be getting from the 1st October tax changes.

The Tax Justice petition is raising doable solutions to the current imbalances in the tax system.

Mr Billot says that the idea of a Financial Transactions Tax or "Robin Hood Tax" is becoming increasingly popular around the world.

“A small percentage tax on financial transactions which would easily pay for GST off food, thus allowing the tax burden to be shifted off ordinary people and on to large financial institutions.”

To coincide with our Double Day of signature collecting, 1-2 October, we’re unveiling our new Tax Justice cartoon. The cartoon will be used widely in publicity in the coming weeks and months. It is available to be reproduced in print and digital publications.

ENDS

© Scoop Media