Letters: Facebook should pay tax

Off-shore tech companies such as Facebook should be paying tax in NZ, says a reader. Photo / Getty Images

The tax-avoiding Facebook has pledged to teach Kiwi women how to use Facebook, for nothing (Business, September 19).

So what?

Facebook is a business that sells advertising, so, in my view, all of the free training is going to involve the Kiwi women buying Facebook advertising products.

Why isn't the IRD investigating the lack of tax paid by Facebook?

And what about NZ advertising firms? Most of them probably pay some tax, unlike the offshore behemoths Google, Facebook, Amazon and LinkdIn.

What is Jacinda Ardern doing about that? Surely we can do this?

Think of all the medicine we could buy if we got unpaid big-tech tax that is being avoided?

And here are all the poor old Kiwi tradies, easy targets, carrying the whole burden themselves. Shame. (Abridged)

GJ Philip
Taupo

Solution: learn te reo

My heart bleeds for your correspondent Mike McVicker (Letters, September 19).

His frustrations at being unable to follow the debate in Parliament in Māori can be easily solved by opting to learn te reo himself, as thousands of New Zealanders are
currently in the process of doing.

Jackie Evans
Rotorua

Opinion jarred

Māori language week was well celebrated apart from a jarring opinion piece.

Peter Williams (Opinion, September 15) said we should drop the English verse of the national anthem and then went on to say that many people don't know the Māori words of the first verse.

As Williams seems unaware that our anthem has five verses in English, he can hardly talk about the ignorance of others.

Strangely, he then criticises some of the words; implying either that the Māori version is a mistranslation, or that the words don't matter if they are not understood.

Personally, I think it is unfortunate that the line, "Make our country good and great" is sung so rarely.

Another news item for the week implored us to retain all the regional Māori dialects. It was therefore sad that a worthwhile opinion piece (Te Māori, September 10) included a criticism of the pronunciation of "Kaikoura".

The Treaty of Waitangi settlement for Ngai Tahu included the road signs for our highest mountain showing the name Aoraki.

It would be unfortunate if the different pronunciation by some northern tribes led to the mana of Ngai Tahu being trampled on and the spelling on the signs changed to Aorangi. (Abridged)

DA McPherson
Rotorua

Aunty Bea irreplaceable

It was with a sense of serenity that I read in Thursday's Rotorua Daily Post that the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust will not be holding a byelection to replace Aunty Bea's position as trustee.

As anyone who had the pleasure of meeting Aunty Bea will allude to, there is simply no way that anyone could have adequately replaced her.

Aunty Bea's fingerprints seem to be all over the trust's newfound focus on funding eligibility being the vital fist 1000 days of a child's life, whanau, and education, and I look forward to the other trustees continuing with this direction and kaupapa.

Well done Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, this was the right call to make.

Ryan Gray
Rotorua