Green MP Teanau Tuiono: Taxing the mega-wealthy will strengthen the foundations of our whare

We need to build our society like the little pig that built its house on strong foundations. Photo / Christine Glade

OPINION:

If you’re feeling the pinch at the moment it’s likely you’re not the only one.

Middle-income people in Aotearoa are feeling the squeeze, but rising costs are felt most acutely by lower-income people. When you’ve got less, every last dollar goes to cover the essentials like food and rent.

When I reflect on how out of balance our society has become, I am reminded of the children’s story of the three little pigs. The little pigs that built their houses out of straw and hay had their houses blown over.

The last pig built its house on strong foundations and it weathered the huffing and puffing of the wolf.

We need to build our society like that little pig’s house. On strong foundations, with strong walls and a roof that doesn’t blow off if the wind picks up.

Denying inequality and instead relying on the myth that a rising tide will lift all boats and other free-market fantasies like we have seen through the decades of privatisation — they are like the houses built of straw and sticks.

They always get blown over — and the most vulnerable people always end up picking up the tab.

Aotearoa faces a perfect storm of crises supercharged by climate change: an outrageous and immoral level of income and wealth inequality; people struggling to put food on the table, pay the bills, and heat their homes as massive corporations are cleaning up; and farms, towns and cities ravaged by floods and storms.

Families, students and those on the lowest incomes deserve to know they don’t have to stress about whether they can afford food, rent and power.

The money to make life better for these people exists, it’s out there lining the pockets of our super-wealthy right now.

It’s just that our government is so constrained by decades of the same old thinking about the economy. The same old thinking that says taxing wealth is too hard, investing in fixing the gaps in social support is too hard. This is a political choice and it can and must change.

Cutting services is also the wrong way to go about addressing inflation. It would be a mistake to reduce government spending on essential public services when we know our crucial infrastructure across health, housing, education, the environment and transport desperately needs investment.

So, the answer? Instead of allowing trickle-down economic thinking to drive economic policy that perversely pushes people out of work and makes our most vulnerable bear the brunt, we must redesign our tax system.

The Greens know we can strengthen the foundations of our whare by taxing the mega-wealthy and using that money to support everyone to live happy and thriving lives.

The time is now.

Teanau Tuiono is a Green list MP based in Palmerston North.