Has PM Luxon Given Local Government Minister Simon Watts A Good Kick In The Nuts?

The Taxpayers Union think so.

Here in full is the lengthy email I and their supporters received a short while ago. Make sure you click on the link for the NZTU letter to PM Luxon – it is obviously what caused Luxon to give Watts a good swift kick.

Sam Warren, Taxpayers’ Union Unsubscribe	1:24 PM (30 minutes ago)
to me

Dear Early this morning, the Cap Rates Now! petition reached 25,000 signatures—including yours. And now, made possible by your support, we’re on the cusp of a major policy victory.TLDR: the Minster (Simon Watts) has told an audience of local government insiders that we need rates capping, but doesn’t want to kick the can down the road to implement it until 2028, 2029, or later. First, the good news… Have you seen the front page of Wellington’s The Post? Last night, at a Wellington Infrastructure NZ event, the Minister for Local Government told reporters that he wants to rein in councils and now plans to introduce rates capping laws – the ones we’ve been pushing for!Last year, no one was talking about rates capping. Now, it’s front page news. And it’s because you joined us to shift the dial. This timing is no coincidence. It is exactly what we’ve been calling for!In politics, they say “the squeaky wheel gets the oil”, and 25,000 signatures in just eight days is a lot of oil.  The bad news: the tactics of council bureaucrats to delay Rates Capping appear to be working…  This is not a perfect victory, though. The Minister has said that consultation isn’t intended to start until the end of the year!That means draft legislation (and what precisely a cap might look like) won’t be until the middle of next year, or even later (i.e. after the Parliamentary elections). The Minister’s timeframe will mean rates capping is dependent on the results of next year’s general election, and won’t be in place for the next round of three-yearly council “Long Term Plans”. That means no caps on out-of-control council rates until at least 2028! *It’s not good enough.* And even that is optimistic. It assumes that the legislation would force councils to redo all their Long Term Plans. That would waste tens of millions of ratepayer money and shows why capping rates should happen this year! With Australia and the UK already doing it, why do we need another year to figure out how to do it… This is why the local government insiders have been pushing stall tactics… here’s why delay is not an option (and why the likes of LGNZ, and their well paid lobbyists, have been telling the Local Government Minister to ‘slow down’ and ‘it’s all too hard’): First, voters are going into October’s local elections blind to what rates could (or could not be). Watts’ timeline makes spending and rates election promises meaningless and undermines local democratic accountability. Second, the high cost of living is already here! Stats NZ say rate hikes have been a major driver of inflation. We say the suffering should not be prolonged. A new poll out this week showed Kiwis are losing trust in the National Party to tackle the cost-of-living. It’s exactly this sort of softly-softly approach by the Minister that explains why. Rates capping is needed now, not in 2028, 2029, or later  Next week, the Taxpayers’ Union will finally be meeting with Simon Watts. It resulted from this letter we sent to the Prime Minister’s office back in March. At the meeting, we’ll be pushing for action now, not kicking the can back until after the next general election. Rates capping laws already exist overseas, and the leg-work has already been done by your humble Taxpayers’ Union. By announcing a rates cap is years away creates the worst of all worlds. It means councils will absolutely smash ratepayers in the short term to lock-in high rates before the rates cap comes into force. Handing further consultation over to a suite of bureaucrats and LGNZ lobbyists not only delays the solution, it risks being railroaded by a change of Government next year. That is exactly what councils that hate this policy are counting on… What next? We’ll keep you updated on how this meeting goes, but for today, we want to thank you for moving the boat forward. Thanks to you, this campaign has momentum. We’ve got the Government to accept that Rates Caps a a good idea. Now we just need them to accept that it’s a good idea to do it now. Thanks again for making this effort possible,  Sam Warren Local Government Campaigns Manager New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

BTW I have another email from the Taxpayers Union. I will get that out shortly because Watts is not done yet – this time he wants to giver Farmers, Tradies and any Ute owners a kick in the guts.

There is no doubt in my min Simon Watts belongs in Labour or the Greens – he is anti productivity.