A month ago Labour announced that Sir Michael Cullen would chair the tax working group and the National Party was cock-a-hoop! Steven Joyce said: “Sir Michael is many things but a politically independent voice on taxation policy he is not,”
Judith Collins had fun with it too, in her regular spot on Newshub she dubbed the working group a “load of bollocks” and described Cullen as a skilled political operator, but not a tax expert nor non-partisan.
But now it seems they may have fallen into the classic trap for young players in opposition politics – getting all gleeful about something that looks like a great ‘gotcha’ before the full picture emerges.
Because yesterday the government announced the full list of tax working group members. They are:
Interesting that there was no quote from the opposition in that piece. And looking at Scoop, and the National Party website, I can see nothing but tumbleweeds on this issue coming up to a full day after the announcement.
Have their finance and revenue spokespeople swanned off for an early Christmas already?
Surely they would have something to say about the appointment of noted pinko Kirk Hope from that great bastion of socialism Business New Zealand amongst others!
Or is this actually a fairly balanced looking group of incredibly well-qualified folks?
You can criticise the tax working group from the left for not challenging the status quo enough and for being compromised by the government already ruling out too many potentially useful tools. But, looking at that line-up, you can’t easily criticise it from the right for being a bunch of shills that will just go along with a Capital Gains Tax.
Better luck next time blue team!
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