No New Taxes?

The mantra of this election has quickly turned into one of taxation. With ACT and National running campaign lines promising NO NEW TAXES in a bid to differentiate themselves from the parties on the left.

These promises are predicated on a series of first principles, one of which being that you know how to spend your money much better than a Wellingtonian bureaucrat ever will.

The stories of wasteful and unapologetic government spending have been far too ubiquitous to suggest otherwise.   

The reality is that ownership begets responsibility.

You spend your own cash cautiously because you know what it took to have that cash in hand!  

The alternative to this is another frame that suggests:

the Government knows how to spend your money better than you and your community ever will and is therefore entitled to a cut of your earnings (!!) (??)

If this was the case, we would have seen an increase in the quality of our publicly funded services (health, education, law and order) … particularly under the previous government when a new 39% income tax rate bracket was introduced.

This is not an argument against all taxation but it is worth asking whether the quality of the publicly-funded services increased by the same proportion.

The reality is that when the government stays out of our pockets, our economic outlook tends to improve. This is a story told by history and numbers.

If the principle of limited government, personal ownership and individual responsibility applies in economics, why should it not apply to our local communities and homes?

If these parties truly believe that you know how best to spend your hard-earned money, why should they not automatically assume that you know how to manage your household.

National’s insistence on the creation of an internet regulator to ban social media for you U16s, for example, is a betrayal of the very principle that anchors their promise for ‘No New Taxes’.

Similarly, ACT’s insistence to expand Assisted Dying legislation is an betrayal of it’s promotion of ‘choice’ and ‘freedom’.

The tune of this election is increasingly that of ‘tax’ or ‘no tax’ but there is more happening underneath these slogans.

This is an election of responsibility.

Responsibility that can be carried either by each of us, or abdicated to the government.

‘No New Taxes’ is a nice promise, but do not be sold out to those who give with one hand and take with the other.

The promise of ‘No New Taxes’ must be coherently underpinned with the promise of limited government, un-interrupted personal responsibility and the preservation of choice and freedom.

Otherwise, the mantra of ‘No New Taxes’ loses its soul, gravity and impact.

‘No New Taxes’ is a good start but the bare minimum is not enough - we must be careful to not trade ‘No New Taxes’ with individual life, and liberty.

If the rules of limited Government and fiscal responsibility apply to economics, they ought to apply to our approach to individual freedom, culture building, and social advocacy.

As you go to the voting booth in 66 days, remember this: our capacity to carry responsibility will help preserve our freedoms in this New Zealand.

No new taxes is good, but let’s ask for more.

PILLAR is here to pursue policies and a culture that promotes life, liberty and individual responsibility in the face of Government’s unrelenting appetite to consume your responsibility and freedom.

Thank you for standing with us.