I have a lot of faith in emails I receive from the Taxpayers Union and particularly when Jordan Williams himself heads them up. I have met Jordan twice and he impresses me as a man who knows what he is talking or writing about.
What is more like myself he is a Hawkes Bay lad to the core.
So when I saw the email about the Ute Tax I thought this is a doozy – get it out there. So I did.
Then in the comments Ele Ludemann from Homepaddock questioned it and then provided another update so I back tracked and updated the post with what she provided.
This morning she has this on her Homepaddock Blog – and I quote:
20/06/2025
An email from the Rural Nats clears up the issue of a fringe benefit tax on utes:
Nobody backs Kiwi farmers more than National.
We want to make that crystal clear, because there’s been a couple of misinformed stories floating around about new taxes coming for utes.
This is absolutely not true.
Farmers and tradies are the backbone of New Zealand’s economy.
To be clear, we will NOT be hitting Kiwis with any new taxes on utes – full stop. And that includes changing fringe benefit tax.
Our hardworking rural communities are driving this country’s economic recovery, and we want to set them up to succeed.
That’s why we binned Labour’s ute tax immediately, and it’s why we’re making it cheaper to buy new work vehicles. I encourage everyone to check out our Investment Boost policy, which would allow farmers, tradies and other businesses to write-off a big chunk of any new asset they buy.
We back our farmers, and we’ll continue to do so.
Rural Nats
No new tax and not change to the fringe benefit tax.
That’s as it should be from a government committed to reducing compliance costs and encouraging businesses to grow.’
My Conclusion:
I am a big fan of Ele Ludemann and her Homepaddock Blog which I have been reading most days for the last 20 odd years. She is a former National Party Regional Chair and knows what she is writing about so it is not my intention to down play what she says in any way.
But, I note the above is from the Rural Nats and not from Minister Watts which is what I thought last night and I have asked HP this question on her Homepaddock Blog this morning:
Do the Rural Nats have enough influence to override the Minister?
At time of writing she has not answered and it is certainly her prerogative not to. It is her Blog.
I am not sure about Minister Watts. He is ineffective in Local Government, refused to meet with the Taxpayers Union and also Federated Farmers, preferring to dine with Local Government NZ members and seems to have an `I know best’ attitude.
Can we trust him? I am not yet convinced we can.
Here is a link to my original post on this yesterday for those that have not seen it.
ps I would love to hear from Jordan Williams or anyone from the NZTU in the comments on this. You have my email address, so email if you would prefer not to get involved on the blog, I will respect what you tell me and only post what you say I can.
cruliviig@gmail.com
No Minister 
I wasn’t ignoring you, I hadn’t seen your comment. I don’t have any inside knowledge but the Rural Nats couldn’t overrule a Minister however, it looks like they went to the Leader’s office and that’s where the overruling came from.
Thanks HP.
Yes looks like the PM had to step in so it does not look good for Simon Watts – Melissa Lee and Penny Simmonds had demotions for lesser transgressions.
Was it just some minister making a comment out loud and the NZTU perhaps jumped the gun? I mean ministers make stupid comments all the time, and I didn’t see how this idea made any sense – plus they’d know that they’d piss off the rural sector.
According to this quote from the NZTU it was well under way Nick.
`What became clear is that despite the Climate Change and Revenue Minister instructing IRD officials to develop the policy – and even had IRD consult with the tax industry on implementation – most of Simon Watts’ Cabinet colleagues just had no idea!’
You don’t hate the National Party enough.