The vast majority of trusts are designed to help people get away with illegal, immoral, or deceptive activities.  They are most often used by those wanting to avoid or evade tax and by those wanting to get Government benefits and handouts that they would otherwise not be entitled to. Many wealthy people and their student […]

The Inland Revenue Department has revealed that two thirds of the 161 people who each have assets worth over $50 million, only declare personal incomes of under $70,000 each year.  This means that they do not pay the top tax rate and they pay very little in tax when they should be paying a huge

The hospitality industry has got politicians and councillors to support the building of convention centres by telling them that they would help to stimulate economic activity and increase jobs in the area.  There is no ideal level of economic activity so this was just a confidence trick. What they failed to mention was that Convention centres

When Casinos were trying to get consent to start operating in New Zealand they said that they would mainly be used by tourists. The reality is that they are mainly used by local people and they do a huge amount of harm in the community. To try and counter this, casinos donate to community groups,

The hospitality industry and the organisers of events get politicians and councillors to put taxpayers and ratepayers money into ventures which cost a lot and often end up making losses.  They arrange with consultants to get reports that contain predictions that the local economy will benefit by many millions of dollars. These predictions are based

Prior to the pandemic farming contributed less than 10% to GDP and dairying was 3.6% of GDP. Clearly, farming is not the backbone of the economy and 30,000 farmers have a far greater influence on Government policies than they deserve.   Over the past few decades farmers have claimed that they are concerned about damage to