Why mega donors are giving to National and ACT

Robin Grieve writes:

In a recent opinion piece, Herald senior writer Simon Wilson challenged National and Act party donors to prove that their donations were not motivated by their desire to pay less tax. His implication being that they were.

As a former member of the Act party board and having met many of these donors, I can say that Wilson’s characterisation of them is unfair, offensive even. …

Likewise, Wilson’s characterisation of them ignores the fact that these donors will have concerns and opinions on any number of areas in which government policy has an impact, not just tax.

A higher standard of living for all New Zealanders, a world-class health system, a world-leading educational system, safe streets, a sound democracy where everyone is valued and respected equally, and where freedom of expression was paramount, were the most common desires of the National and Act donors I spoke to for this article. These are the reasons they gave me for making their donation and none of them mentioned tax.

Some had more specific concerns and one such donor is Chris Reeve, who is a donor to both National and Act. His latest donation to Act was motivated by his desire to help the party with a private members bill to repeal legislation that has led to children in the care of Oranga Tamariki being ripped away from the only stable and loving family they have ever known.

For the Government, the emotional harm these children suffer when it tears them away from their families is not a concern, it seems. For Reeve it is, and he is prepared to use his money to help these children by getting this abuse stopped.

I was going to do a column for Stuff on this issue, but Grieve has covered it off quite nicely.

I have been staggered by how many people have made massive donations to National and ACT in the last 18 months. Most large donors give $30,000 to $50,000 but we have seen dozens giving $100,000 or more including a recent $500,000 donation to National.

I know a few (not many) of these donors. It is definitely not tax policy which has led to such huge donations. At this point in time National’s tax policy is to index the brackets to inflation. This will only benefit someone earning say $1 million a year by a few thousand dollars. No way are you donating $500,000 for that.

I think the answer is quite simple, for many of the donors. They see the current Government leading New Zealand down a path away from democracy as we know it, to a country which doesn’t value equality of suffrage, freedom of speech and other human rights. They worry that such changes, if embedded in, will fundamentally change NZ for the worse.

You don’t give $500,000 on the basis of indexing tax brackets to inflation. You don’t give it on the basis of their regional development policy. You give it because you want to get rid of the Government, because you think it is a terrible Government.

The reasons will vary as to why donors think the Government is terrible, but that is what is motivating large donors – not tax policy.