Group aims for 10p.c. tax cut

Press, 26 November 1979, Page 6

Group aims for 10p.c. tax cut

A 10 per cent reduction in central government taxation is the main aim of a group formed in Christchurch yesterday. The Christchurch Tax Reform Group, which draws its inspiration from the successful mass movement in California last year to reduce property taxes, believes that high taxation is a big factor in New Zealand’s inflation and industrial unrest. A spokesman for the group, Mr Geoffry Russell, also points to the benefits that the property tax cut in California stimulated, com,pared with the “expert” predictions of disaster before I the cuts were made. ' The Christchurch meeting was called because of discontent over the 124 per cent inIcrease in taxation since 1974.

“Every man, woman, and child is paying in taxat nan average of $1792 each a year or $34.46 a week, including indirect taxes. In 1974. the figure was $799.58 each a year or $15.37 a week,” said a statement issued by the group vesterday. The reform group is strictly non-party, it says. Although the group has yet to decide the tactics it will fuse to push for the tax cut land does not have the legal advantages of the Californian rebels. Mr Russell is confident the cut can be achieved. “We are prepared to be ingenious. There are so many different ways of getting what the people want,” he said. Forty attended the meeting at which the group \tas formed.