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The Spinoff
3 minutes ago
- The Spinoff
What happened to Nicola Willis's plan for charities tax reform?
New reporting helps explain why the finance minister decided to leave charities' tax affairs out of the budget, writes Catherine McGregor in today's extract from The Bulletin. A budget backtrack When finance minister Nicola Willis announced a consultation in December on charities' tax exemptions, she signalled that change was imminent. The government wanted to close 'any loopholes that are being exploited that would allow entities that are structured as charities to avoid tax they should otherwise pay', she told reporters. The review, led by Inland Revenue, was explicitly aimed at charities operating business arms tax-free while competing with commercial firms. Willis hoped to include new rules in Budget 2025. But in late April, she confirmed that wouldn't happen after all. 'The consultation has uncovered a lot of complexity,' she said, adding that while she remained committed to reform, 'I don't want to rush it and get it wrong.' The about-face leaves intact a system under which charities earned a $2 billion tax-free surplus last year, including prominent examples like Sanitarium and BestStart that compete directly with taxpaying businesses. Level playing field or unfair advantage? Charities are permitted to run businesses without paying company income tax, provided all profits are reinvested into charitable activities. According to a story by Stuff's Emma Ricketts, this includes well-known operations like Sanitarium, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church; Trinity Lands, Zespri's largest shareholder, linked to the Open Brethren; and Ngāi Tahu's extensive tourism and seafood businesses. AUT lecturer Dr Ranjana Gupta is among the critics who argue these arrangements undermine the principle of 'horizontal equity' – that similar taxpayers should be treated alike. 'Sanitarium competes with Kellogg's and Hubbards, but only the latter pay tax,' she noted in The Conversation. Gupta and others don't question tax exemptions for charities' core purposes such as education, religion or poverty relief, but say unrelated business activity should not be shielded from tax. Consultation cools appetite for reform The reason for Willis's reversal became clear this week with the release of documents obtained by the NZ Herald's Matt Nippert (Premium paywalled). Of 901 submissions received during the two-month consultation, 86% opposed changes to charity tax exemptions. 'There was also much work flagged for tax and charity lawyers in determining what was and what was not unrelated business activity, with separate accounts needed to be generated for each,' Nippert writes. Major charities warned that increased compliance costs could harm their ability to deliver services. As for the potential tax take, the biggest targets would have been a handful of large, commercially successful charities. Meanwhile, the vast majority of New Zealand's charities, many of them small and community-focused, would have been ultimately untouched, thanks to de minimis thresholds and other carve-outs. 'This narrowed scope saw the eye-popping $400m estimate of fresh tax revenue almost vanish entirely,' Nippert writes. According to IRD calculations, the benefit to the government would be just $50 million a year at most. Donor-controlled charities still a live issue However, not all parts of the sector have escaped scrutiny. Donor-controlled charities – entities in which donors retain effective control over how their funds are used – may still face reform. The IRD's February discussion paper outlined concerns including circular arrangements that let donors claim tax credits for donations that are then reinvested into their own ventures. The government is considering stricter rules, and the charities sector seems much less opposition: only 46% of submitters objected to setting a mandatory minimum of distributions for donor-controlled charities, Nippert reports, and just 43% opposed placing restrictions on what such charities can invest in. As KPMG's Darshana Elwela put it, this was one area 'with some genuine concerns' and a clearer pathway forward.
ABC News
3 minutes ago
- ABC News
Tasmanian premier set to call election today. What happens next?
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff is expected to go to the state's governor on Tuesday to seek a snap election, just 15 months after the last state election. Parliament will sit today to debate and pass a budget supply bill to ensure public servants can get paid during and after an election campaign. After that, Mr Rockliff intends to ask to dissolve parliament, with July 19 the earliest date an election can be held. It comes after the lower house passed Labor's no-confidence motion in Mr Rockliff on Thursday, citing the bungled rollout of new Spirit of Tasmania vessels, the state's poor budget position and previous suggestions to privatise state-owned companies. He did not speak to the media on Monday, instead taking part in an icy water slide fundraiser for a motor neurone disease charity. An election could have been avoided if the Liberals chose a new leader who would then need to get the confidence of the lower house, but cabinet minister Felix Ellis said Mr Rockliff has the support of the Liberal partyroom. "He is a man of experience, strength and compassion who has served our community for decades. "We back him in wholeheartedly." The two major parties continue to blame each other for the political impasse. Labor leader Dean Winter says the premier was to blame for losing the confidence of the lower house, while Mr Rockliff says Mr Winter is a "wrecker" . The Tasmanian Greens have called on Labor to attempt to form minority government with their support rather than go to an election, but Mr Winter has rejected this. Mr Winter said the party will not be making big spending promises if an election is called. "This will not be a spendathon from Labor," he said. "Our state cannot afford it. Labor has confirmed it will support the supply bill through parliament. It's likely to be the only parliamentary business of the day. There could be another lengthy debate however, as members can make speeches on the bill. The Legislative Council has also been recalled for the day to pass the supply bill, and members will have briefings while they wait for the supply bill to be approved by the lower house. The Tasmanian Industrial Commission last week determined that the state's politicians will get a 22 per cent pay rise on July 1, but both the Liberals and Labor say they will block this. A disallowance motion would be required to stop the pay rise. However, the government says this can occur when parliament returns after an election, with the pay increase on hold until then. Tasmania is the only state or territory that does not have its own political donation disclosure scheme, but one is set to start on July 1, potentially halfway through the election campaign. It would require all political donations above $1,000 to be publicly disclosed. The donations must be declared to the Electoral Commission within seven days, and then published seven days later, meaning donations won't start being published until one or two weeks into July. Independent upper house MLC Meg Webb called on the government to either bring the system forward to today, or ensure it starts on July 1. Mr Rockliff confirmed on Sunday that the disclosure system will start on July 1. The new laws also include public funding for campaigns, at $6 per vote once 4 per cent of the vote is achieved. Parties can apply for half of its anticipated funding up-front, based on its result at the previous state election. It's unclear whether this aspect of the bill will be in operation if an election is called. An election would also delay several pieces of legislation and the work of multiple parliamentary committees. The government intended to have its Macquarie Point stadium enabling legislation debated and passed in the lower house this month, and then the upper house in the first week of July. This will need to wait until after the election, and is subject to the new numbers in the lower house. Currently, both the Liberals and Labor have a combined 24 seats out of 35 to pass the stadium bill, but 10 out of 11 crossbenchers are opposed. The numbers in the Legislative Council will remain the same, with three independents required for the stadium bill to pass. A bill to allow for the rezoning of University of Tasmania land above Churchill Avenue in Sandy Bay will also be delayed, having already passed the lower house. A parliamentary committee examining the implementation of recommendations from the commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse in institutional settings will be paused. So, too, will a committee that is examining how the previous election was carried out. That committee will likely need to add a second election onto its workload.
ABC News
3 minutes ago
- ABC News
Rains bring relief and hope to farmers in drought-stricken Victoria
After months of blue skies and dwindling dams, the weekend finally brought rain to drought-stricken areas of Victoria. More than 25 millimetres of rain fell in many parts of the state, giving hope to rural communities. Ben Pohlner's farm outside Warrnambool in the state's south-west received more than 40 millimetres since Friday. With the rain turning dry soil to mud, he said the farm could get on with planting a long overdue strawberry crop. "We've got to get 45,000 plants in the ground and that's going to be exciting for us," Mr Pohlner said. At parched Edenhope in the state's west, Clayton Caldow has been hand feeding his flock for months. Since Friday, 44 millimetres of rain has fallen at his property. "Look, a month earlier would have been amazing, but it's going to really kick start a lot of pastures," he said. Inland from Victoria's Surf Coast, at Mount Moriac, drought has forced beef farmers Eliza Holt and Jim McKenna to move their cattle to another property. "For the first time ever we faced the reality in January this year that the dam had gone dry, and we just couldn't maintain the cattle here," Ms Holt said. "So we had to completely destock, which was a huge thing to do." Over the weekend they received more than 80 millimetres, topping up dry troughs and turning thirsty paddocks green. "We spent yesterday staring out the window like idiots just grinning our heads off like it was Christmas," Mr McKenna said. Mr McKenna said the stress and anxiety farmers have been feeling due to drought could not be underestimated. "From here to the border, western Victoria is just going to sleep a lot better after that rain," he said. While grateful for the rain, they say plenty more is needed. "[The rain] won't bring an end to the drought as such, but it's fantastic to have rain and water in the dams," Ms Holt said. "Let's hope for some sunshine and that the seed will actually grow that's been sown in many paddocks throughout Victoria in the past few weeks." The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is forecasting more rain this week, but drought-breaking rains could still be some time off. "While this is very welcome rainfall and it's good to get some rain, many of these areas are hundreds of millimetres behind average and coming off the driest six, nine, 12 months in some places on record," BOM senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said. "So it's going to take a number of these systems to break the drought."
