I read a Tax Justice Network online report recently that stated New Zealand was one of 8 Countries that had refused to sign up to the United Nations Tax Convention . I thought, What’s that? Why haven’t I heard more about it through our mainstream media ? and Who are the Tax Justice Network anyway?

So I did a bit of research and late one night last week I ended up talking with Sergio Chaparro who is the international policy and advocacy lead for the Tax Justice Network and is based in Chile.

Our conversation ended up being quite detailed so let me give you what I took to be the key points.

The United Nations Tax Convention is largely an attempt to stop Multinational Corporations cheating on their taxes in the countries in which they operate.

The Tax Justice Network is a non- profit organisation that aims to make tax systems work of people and the planet. They believe that taxation is a social superpower that can create a fair and just society.

In its latest report The Tax Justice Network estimates that countries are losing US$492 billion in tax a year to multinational corporations and wealthy individuals who are using tax havens to underpay tax.

Nearly half these losses (43%), they say, are enabled by the eight countries that remain opposed to a UN tax convention: Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK and the USA.

Ironically the biggest enablers of global tax abuse are also some of the biggest losers: US$177 billion was lost last year by the 8 countries that recently voted against UN tax convention terms.

They estimate New Zealand lost US$1 billion in tax avoidance and evasion last year!

We are being told we have to pull our economic belt in, and cut back on this or that, while the wealthy hide their money .

Just imagine what we could do with $NZ1.75 Billion? A couple of years of collecting that amount of money from the tax cheats could pay for that new Dunedin Hospital or for those two large interisland ferries with all the associated infrastructure that Nicola Willis said we couldn’t afford and cancelled.

So why didn’t New Zealand sign up? Well the UN Tax Convention is being championed by African and poorer nations. The wealthier OECD countries, of which New Zealand is a member, have come up with what they call the Two Pillar solution to tax cheating.

It's a softer approach to the issue and it’s not working .The Trump administration doesn’t want a bar of it and the UK, who are the worst offenders, certainly don’t want us voting for the UN Tax Convention.

Given our current government’s right wing determination to pander to the wealthy, then I think you can understand why our government voted against what would deliver a fairer distribution of wealth both nationally and internationally.

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PS. Just as an aside I asked Sergio about Capital Gains Tax in Chile and Colombia. Chile has Capital Gains on house sales and Colombia, in addition, has a Wealth Tax.

If they can do it- so can we.