More on Labour’s water tax

We know Labout want to tax water and give much of the tax to Iwi. So basically they are saying New Zealanders have to pay Iwi for products that use water. This is a major policy shift, and even worse Labour won’t say how much the tax will be. Do you want a Government that tells you they will tax water, but not by how much?

Even worse it will be discriminatory. Commerical water users in cities will not pay, but those in rural areas will generally pay. Most major breweries will end up not paying the tax, while most craft breweries will pay it. So their policy hurts the small businesses while large businesses like Coke are not affected.

It will put up put up food prices for many items, as well as make our exporters less competitive. Their overseas competitors will not face this, so NZ exporters will be at a disadvaantage.

It will also hurt families with babies. Milk powder uses a lot of water. So both milk and milk powder will go up.

If you want to have a price on water, the way to do it is a market with tradable rights. But Labour’s water tax is a hasty nasty policy that unfairly punishes provincial and rural New Zealand.