By Callum Purves

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is encouraging Kiwis to write to Minister of Revenue, David Parker, about the Government’s intrusive IRD project collecting personal information about spending and family dynamics of ‘high-net worth individuals’.

“Minister David Parker used the pandemic as an opportunity to pass a law ‘under urgency’ allowing IRD to put their stickybeaks into the spending habits and family dynamics of Kiwis. The new powers avoided scrutiny because they were snuck into a bill that introduced the new 39% tax bracket. That meant zero public consultation,” Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, says.

“We have several concerns about the project including its less than transparent path through parliament and breaches of Privacy Act principles. We have written to the Privacy Commissioner with our concerns, but it is important that Kiwis have their voices heard by the minister too.

“There is no justification for trampling Kiwis’ privacy rights. Giving a Government department the power to force Kiwis to hand over their financial records when they’re not even suspected of a crime is outrageous.

“The Government has started its snooping with ‘high-net worth individuals’, but as we have seen over and over, if you give the Ardern Government an inch of power, they take a mile.

“The nosey parkers at IRD should have no right to know how much Kiwis spend on travel or helping out family.”

Those who wish to write to Minister Parker can do so at www.noseyparker.nz