Who funds the Taxpayer’s Union?

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, January 8th, 2025 - 31 comments
Categories: election 2023, election funding, elections, taxpayers union - Tags:

Six months late and in the middle of the holiday period and without any fanfare the Taxpayer’s Union has released its financial results for the year ending December 31, 2023 which also happened to be election year.

Income was impressive and included a total of $2,628,721 in donations from who knows.

Unlike political parties it does not have to release details of its donors. This is a major weakness because for all of this money may have come from Atlas for all that we know. An entity that so overtly injects itself into our political system should be up front about how it is funded.

And it spent a great deal including some of the nearly million dollars that it had in reserve.

A total of $3.326 million was spent on items such as its naff debt clock and fake pig suits. This is more than the Green Party and NZ First received that year in donations.

And this was nearly ten times the amount declared to the Electoral Commission as third party campaign expenses although admittedly the definition does not include day to day running expenses.

The TPU has shown significant growth in revenue and generally in reserves since its inception.

And while we are on the subject do you know how much information about Hobson’s Pledge’s finances are publicly available?

Absolutely nothing. It is a privately incorporated company and has absolutely no duty to disclose anything.

He Arotake Pōtitanga Motuhake, the Independent Electoral Review committee recommended that Government addresses “an existing vulnerability in our system by preventing registered third-party promoters using money from overseas persons to fund election advertising in the three months before an election”.

It also recommended that registered third-party promoters should have a separate election campaign bank account for campaign donations and election expenses, that records should be kept of election campaign donations, and that promoters that spend more than $100,000 on election expenditure during the regulated period should also disclose donors who donate over $30,000 in total during an electoral cycle, if the donation has been used for election expenditure.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has ruled out implementing any of the major proposals in the report. To my knowledge he has not commented on this proposal but to date nothing has been done.

But to ensure that we have a properly functioning system that protects our democracy from overseas influence can I recommend that he at least increases the TPU’s disclosure requirements.

At the very least it will improve our confidence that the TPU is not funded by overseas oligarchs whose desire is to undermine environmental protections and rights of workers and indigenous people so that billionaires can increase their wealth.

31 comments on “Who funds the Taxpayer’s Union? ”

  1. Tiger Mountain 1
    8 January 2025 at 9:36 am

    Who funds the Taxpayers Union? (still an egregious misuse of the word union imo).

    Well, with non disclosure of who funds them–at a guess it would be non tax payers, and those that seek to pay absolutely as little tax as they can get away with, including untaxed capital gains and export of profits offshore.

    I do recall during initial COVID Jordan and crew were quite happy to bludge off NZ taxpayers for some wage assistance for staff, it was a bad look indeed, so for PR reasons they later refunded the money, but then had the cheek to tell actual unions to pay back any wage subsidies also!

    Reply
  2. thinker 2
    8 January 2025 at 10:27 am

    Income $2876490

    Cost of feeding and watering the people:

    Staff $1369359

    Kiwisaver obligation $25807

    Board xps $10277

    Total personell costs $1405443 or 49% of gross income

    That seems high to me. Anyone know what the industry average should be?

    Reply
    • SPC 2.1
      8 January 2025 at 4:07 pm

      It’s high for a charity receiving donations to pass on, not for a group whose work is done by paid staff.

      Reply
      • Andy S 2.1.1
        9 January 2025 at 8:47 am

        I doubt that the Taxpayer's Union is a charity. Political parties and organisations with political objectives cannot be charities. Donations to the TU do not qualify for the 1/3 tax rebate that donations to other charities do. The TU could even be liable to tax on some of its income since its not a charity.

        I have heard that it has over 250,000 persons on its mailing list. Income of $2.9m means an average donation of around $11.60. Not huge amounts.

        Reply
        • SPC 2.1.1.1
          9 January 2025 at 10:12 am

          I was referring to the comment about the high personnel costs of the TU, admin cost level is an issue as per charity overhead. Not for those groups who spend on their staff/office +polling, consultants and otherwise promotion to media.

          Being on the mailing list does not require being a donor.

          Reply
  3. Dennis Frank 3
    8 January 2025 at 10:33 am

    A total of $3.326 million was spent on items such as its naff debt clock and fake pig suits.

    I wonder how many fake pig suits made of genuine gold sequins they could get made for several million dollars spending on it, so planning for a mass public rally of all members togged up in such apparel could surpass the Nuremberg Nazi Party Rallies for spectacle.

    Folks love watching parades, so it would be a suitable recruiting & fund-raising extravaganza too. They're obviously thinking big.

    Reply
  4. Bearded Git 4
    8 January 2025 at 12:51 pm

    Great post Micky.

    You only have to glance at those numbers to see that the recommendations of the Independent Electoral Review Committee need to be implemented immediately.

    Labour/Greens/TPM should all spell this out in their 2026 manifestos. Some votes in this I reckon.

    93% of the income is from Donations and Other Revenue with no clue as to the origin. Talk about shady.

    Consulting $360K-isn't this the group that criticises politicians for wasting money on outside contractors?

    Reply
  5. Binders full of women 5
    8 January 2025 at 1:43 pm

    The only direct funding into NZ by the Atlas network was to the Free Speech Union to fight AgAINSt the gang patch ban. I'm no more interested in TPU funding than I am Forest &Bird, greenpeace and the rugby Union….which is all zero interest.

    Reply
    • Shanreagh 5.1
      8 January 2025 at 7:45 pm

      I'm a bit the same Binders. They are a lobby group and we have all sorts of lobby groups funded in all sorts of ways. Lobby group of all sorts and stripes are a feature of democracy. At least they are resident in NZ and for all I know are getting donations from NZersm to help with lobbying here in NZ.

      This is unlike the organisations that received funding from overseas orgs such as the Arcus Foundation et al to advance trans issues that have seen men entering womens' safe spaces by saying they have achieved the biologically impossible and changed sex.

      The only niggle I have about the TPU is calling themselves a union but then trade unions have not copyrighted the word union/s (as far as I know & legally I'm not sure they would have the ability to do so.)

      Reply
  6. Ad 6
    8 January 2025 at 1:45 pm

    So are we thinking Labour or the Greens could form a company to 'bundle' and route party donations without more than a single aggregate company disclosure?

    Reply
  7. Booker 7
    8 January 2025 at 6:24 pm

    I think this question needs to be headline news in this country. TPU gets regular press coverage and a few years ago it came out that they were receiving funds from Big Tobacco. It seems entirely like a front group that exists solely to undermine the country’s sovereignty and advocate for multinationals. I struggle to understand why mainstream press gives them the time of day. It’s clearly not a Union, and most likely the backers are tax avoiders.

    Reply
    • Gerard Birss 7.1
      9 January 2025 at 1:33 pm

      Of course it's not a "Union" in the sense of any movement – it's simply a group of like-minded people who subscribe to its ethos. Mainstream media doesn't give it the time of day at all – don't know where you see evidence of that. The LAST thing the TPU does is to try to undermine our sovereignty – just the opposite in fact. A look at the website will help sort this out for you.

      Reply
      • Incognito 7.1.1
        9 January 2025 at 2:25 pm

        Mainstream media doesn’t give it the time of day at all – don’t know where you see evidence of that.

        In NZ mainstream media, of course; have you heard of Google search?

        The Onion would be a fringe piss-poor BS pressure group if they were ignored by MSM, but that’s clearly not the case.

        You’re obviously not an illiterate person who sticks their head in the sand pretending to be deaf and blind, so you comment here with a peculiar motivation. I wonder what that might be …

        Reply
    • Astro 7.2
      9 January 2025 at 2:03 pm

      John Bishop – father of Chris Bishop, unsurprisingly – deliberately chose the term Union because he wanted to "wind up the Lefties, because Union is not a term which is owned by the trade union movement."

      Hence my preferred term, Taxpayers Onion.

      Reply
  8. Winston 8
    9 January 2025 at 12:53 pm

    The outcome of the Waipareira case may impact on the funding of pollys by unseen puppet masters

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/regulator-to-deregister-waipareira-over-political-donations/J4QUMQ2PMFEVVMCBF7QQ325Z4A

    Reply
  9. RonSegal 9
    9 January 2025 at 2:50 pm

    As long as it's legal and not a criminal or terrorist organisation, I really don't care who funds TPU, as the battles they're fighting seem entirely appropriate to me. I tend to agree that TPU is really not a Union in the sense of seeking fair play for employees in the workplace, particularly not on an individual basis (although too many "proper" unions hardly do any of that either), TPU is more of a think tank lobby group. Again so what, it's not like they're misleading the membership in that regard. The critique re funding is pure unadulterated attempted mud slinging, so typical of the left.

    Reply
    • Incognito 9.1
      9 January 2025 at 3:46 pm

      As long as it’s legal and not a criminal or terrorist organisation […]

      Don’t you love the slippery ethics of the ‘pretty legal’ defence?

      […] TPU is more of a think tank lobby group. Again so what, it’s not like they’re misleading the membership in that regard.

      Yeah, that’ll explain the rather extravagant spending on advertising and campaigning that’s so typical of think tanks. Or rather, it’s to obfuscate the NZ public with smoke & mirrors and divert attention away from the Onion’s infiltration of the corridors of power in the Beehive.

      Your comment is so typical of RW apologist shills, who only scream ‘cui bono?’ when it involves tax- or rate-payers but hide behind confidentiality and commercial ‘sensitivity’ in all other cases.

      Reply
    • Descendant Of Smith 9.2
      9 January 2025 at 4:45 pm

      They aren't a think tank at all. They are a right wing lobby group pushing a particular political agenda. Evidence is largely absent from what they peddle.

      not like they're misleading the membership

      Tis misleading the public is the issue.

      And who they are funded by is important in public discourse. As always transparency is what allows the public to be informed.

      Reply
  10. Darien Fenton 10
    10 January 2025 at 7:49 am

    They call themselves a Union. They are an incorporated society and unions must be the same, but have more stringent rules and requirements to be accountable – to members. Interesting to me in these accounts the TPU seems to have pitifully few fee paying members and relies a lot on donations.

    Reply
  11. Binders full of women 11
    10 January 2025 at 5:37 pm

    Somehow I've ended up on TPU email list and from what I've seen their funding seems to be really flax-roots support. Eg lots of small mom & pop regular donations. If it's more sinister eg Atlas, WEF, international socialist youth, Rothschild $$ then what does it really matter? The nearest I've seem to overly political is their yearly "jonesy awards " for wasteful spending named after current NZF & ex -labour? Mp…Shane – illiism- Jones.

    Reply
    • SPC 11.1
      10 January 2025 at 5:53 pm

      It seems to be

      FACT CHECK

      This is evidence of their revenue (it is also at the top of the page).

      https://bunny-wp-pullzone-vkc2vjtkjj.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TPU-income-1200×671.png

      If it is … it might be, but no one knows because this is not stated.

      The nearest I've seem to overly political

      A campaign to limit rate increases to the inflation rate (given infrastructure requirements, this is political).

      A campaign to limit councils from spending money on anything community, just basic stuff, is also political (pro landlord and anti-tenant for one).

      This – councils should adopt the guidance of the Local Government Minister.

      https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/gore_district_plan

      A campaign against Three Waters.

      Reply
    • Incognito 11.2
      10 January 2025 at 6:31 pm

      Nah, nothing overly political to see here, move on.

      New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union | New Zealand
      Leading the World from the Bottom of the World

      In the 1980s, New Zealand was a leading actor in economic reform and deregulation, ultimately leading to the birth of a Reagan/Thatcher-style approach that spread throughout the Western world. The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union aims to reestablish the country as an economic reformer and global thought leader through their key public policy objectives: lower taxes, less waste, and more transparency.

      An upcoming election is expected to deliver a government more favorable to market-based thinking in New Zealand, and the Taxpayers’ Union intends to work alongside the government to be at the forefront of policy development. They plan to work toward their mission by drafting parliamentary bills; shifting the Overton Window by utilizing popular support; campaigning against high taxes, government waste, and inflation; and publicizing high profile government employees or contractors who have had misleading or deceptive trade interactions. The Taxpayers’ Union aims, in the long run, to become the most popularly supported taxpayer and fiscally conservative pressure group in the world, and to establish New Zealand as a pro-freedom policy laboratory. In their words, they will “lead the world from the bottom of the world.”

      https://www.atlasnetwork.org/articles/2023-smart-bets-weekly-highlight-atlas-network-partners-in-lithuania-and-new-zealand [Date: 25 October 2022]

      Reply
  12. Incognito 12
    13 January 2025 at 9:25 pm

    Something doesn’t add up here. The Onion claims that it’s supported by 200,000 subscribed members and supporters, the membership fee is $25 pa, and the total income from Membership Subscriptions in 2023 was only $165,747. By my calculation that amounts to only just over 6,600 fee-paying members at most, which is a far cry from the claimed 200,000.

    Reply

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