National's petition against tax Govt will now keep taken down

December 7, 2023
National's petition against its own tax.

A petition to scrap a tax National now wants to retain remained active on the party website until this afternoon.

The petition titled "Axe the App Tax" said the tax would make Uber, Airbnb, and food delivery "more expensive in the middle of a cost of living crisis".

It's something Labour's finance spokesperson Grant Robertson said shows the "hypocrisy" of the National Party.

National's deputy leader and Finance Minister Nicola Willis said "it just shows we haven't updated our website".

It was taken down shortly after Willis was asked about it.

National had promised to reverse the change, which would have imposed GST on accommodation and transport providers on app platforms, such as Uber and Airbnb.

Currently, Airbnb hosts and Uber drivers levy themselves for GST but only if they make more than $60,000 in annual revenue.

While National had campaigned against the tax, it had u-turned on it in order to pay for its tax package, due to some revenue streams disappearing in coalition negotiations.

It will come into force in April.

Willis said earlier this week as National was part of a coalition government it had needed to "make adjustments".

One notable source of revenue the party had earmarked to help pay for tax cuts pre-election was a reverse on a ban on foreign buyers in the property market. That was halted by New Zealand First.

The petition page against the app tax said it was "simply another tax grab from Labour to fuel their wasteful spending".

"Labour plans to introduce a new tax on digital platforms to charge GST on their services, despite these services already complying with the same tax rules as everyone else.

"Someone that uses a ride sharing app twice a week could be paying hundreds of dollars extra a year, and a $400 weekend away booked through a digital provider could be $60 more expensive.

Nicola Willis in November 2023 (file image).

"After the Ute Tax, the KiwiSaver Tax, the Jobs Tax, and now the App Tax, it has become clear: if you use it, Labour will eventually try to tax it. They just can’t help themselves."

It concluded by asking people to sign the petition to "tell Labour that Kiwis don’t want another tax".

"And if Labour won’t listen, we will: National will reverse this tax if elected."

Labour's Robertson told 1News the petition's continued existence showed the "height of hypocrisy from National".

"The very last words on that petition are that if National is elected, this tax will go, now they're relying on it to fund their tax cuts."

He said it was a "continuation of the shambles of the coalition of chaos".

"Nicola Willis cannot pay for her tax cuts, she's scrambling around trying to find money for them and has decided to take money from a tax which she said she wouldn't do. It's hypocrisy, it's an embarrassment."

A 2020 Reuters investigation discussed the use of petitions by political parties in the US to gather contact details for would-be voters. Willis said the petition wasn't designed for that.

National is far from the only party to run petitions - the Green Party is currently running one against ending a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, and ACT has one calling for a referendum on co-governance - something it lost in coalition negotiations also.

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