{"id":1143,"date":"2024-04-05T08:53:57","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T19:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daveforcouncil.nz\/?p=401"},"modified":"2024-04-05T08:53:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T19:53:57","slug":"tax-cut-protest-takes-roundabout-way-to-wellington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?p=1143","title":{"rendered":"Tax cut protest takes roundabout way to Wellington"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

By Diane McCarthy, Local Democracy Reporting April 5, 2024<\/div>\n
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\nDave Stewart believes tax cuts will take services from those who need them most, (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
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\nTax cut protest takes roundabout way to Wellington<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

Dave Stewart plans to take his protest against tax cuts to Parliament \u2014 but he is kicking it off from the podium of a downtown Whakat\u0101ne roundabout.<\/p>\n

He said the Government\u2019s determination to carry through on its promise to deliver tax cuts \u2014 despite public and political pressure to postpone them \u2014 was simply \u201cfeeding greed\u201d and would be paid for by taking services from the poorest in the country.<\/p>\n

“With the coalition Government\u2019s tax cuts being universally condemned, I think it\u2019s important to ask that they be postponed,” Stewart said.<\/p>\n

Tax cuts for middle to low income earners were one of the National party\u2019s campaign promises during last year\u2019s election, however, many are opposed to them through fear of where funds will be taken from.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced last week in a Budget Policy Statement that she intended to go ahead with them.<\/p>\n

“One of the priorities in the upcoming Budget was to deliver meaningful tax reductions to provide cost of living relief to New Zealanders who had seen no change in personal income tax rates and thresholds since 2010,” she said.<\/p>\n

In a media release, she said tax reductions would be funded within the operating allowance through a mixture of savings, reprioritisation and additional revenue sources, though did not specify what those were.<\/p>\n

Stewart said the Government would pay for them with increases in other areas.<\/p>\n

“The tax cuts aren\u2019t making sense. If they go ahead with them they will lose all the support that they\u2019ve got. There\u2019s so many people against them.”<\/p>\n

He hoped that anyone who was against the tax cuts would join his protest.<\/p>\n

\n

Roundabout may not be big enough<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

Up until Budget day on May 30, he plans to protest every Friday between 3pm and 5pm on the Landing Rd roundabout. He said as more people joined him he may have to move from the roundabout as he did not want to impede traffic flow.<\/p>\n

He said he expected the protest to snowball as more people become involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a network of people I\u2019ve reached out to and it will build up to a massive protest in Wellington on Budget Day if they don\u2019t surrender by then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart is no stranger to such protests. In January last year he took to the streets protesting the hate and vitriol being directed against Jacinda Ardern that surfaced after she resigned as prime minister.<\/p>\n

He was fully in approval of the recent upgrade of the Landing Road roundabout Whakat\u0101ne District Council has built at the western entrance to town, which had been criticised by some for its lack of colourful flowers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a perfect protesting roundabout. I watched them build it with much glee. I thought, \u2018for me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart has started an online petition on change.org called Postpone the Tax Cuts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 5, 2024 “With the coalition Government\u2019s tax cuts being universally condemned, I think it\u2019s important to ask that they be postponed,” Stewart said. Tax cuts for middle to low income earners were one of the National party\u2019s campaign promises during last year\u2019s election, however, many are opposed to them through fear of where funds will be taken from. Stewart said the Government would pay for them with increases in other areas. . . . → Read More: Tax cut protest takes roundabout way to Wellington<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7410,"featured_media":415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Tax cut protest takes roundabout way to Wellington","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[121,127],"tags":[],"series":[124],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-press","category-tv","series-dave-for-council","odd"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/nats_04020805.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?feed=podcast&podcast_series=dave-for-council","embedCode":"

Tax cut protest takes roundabout way to Wellington<\/a><\/blockquote>