Matt McCarten: Tax defeat expensive lesson we must heed

Twenty-five years ago this week we ousted the old dictator Robert Muldoon. By the time we'd got over the election euphoria, the free market and privatisation disciples had handed over our economic sovereignty to global multinationals. Most of our banking system landed up in the hands of Australian money men.

It seems there is no limit to the sense of entitlement of these people. I choked on my breakfast on Friday morning when I saw one of those Australian bankers on television, justifying how they had the right to not pay $645 million in tax.

I'd think they would be satisfied with their excessive profits from charging us higher fees and interest than their Australian customers. Apparently not.

The once iconic BNZ was established by the first Labour Government to protect us from overseas financiers. We sold the bank to the the tune of $1 billion when they got into trouble. Now the court has found the BNZ guilty of avoiding tax and interest of $645 million, but the bank is expected to appeal the decision. Other big banks have been charged with owing millions, too. But instead of apologising and paying up, as I believe they should, they're fighting the charges.

The tax department in every country gets a bad rap, but I think this is one occasion when every New Zealander should be proud of those public servants who doggedly investigated these allegations of tax avoidance by bankers who ask us to trust them with our money.

It's black comedy how infatuated our media are with routine crime when they should be looking to palatial offices overseas.

Of course $2.4 billion - the total amount in question - is difficult to comprehend. And so, to some extent, the avoidance allegations can seem abstract.

So let me put it in context: with this money we could take 30,000 people off the unemployment benefit, pay them $600 a week and put each one of them as a teacher aide into every classroom in our nation's schools. There's almost no capital cost and it would benefit teachers and students in every community in the country.

If we wanted to give everyone on the dole a job we could take the remaining 20,000 registered unemployed and put them on the same wage to assist our elderly and invalids as cooks, cleaners and home helpers.

After the great Rogernomics con job on our country no one should believe that private ownership of our strategic assets is good for us. In my opinion, the transfer of our banks' ownership offshore has resulted in no democratic accountability, and the appearance of wholesale price-rigging and tax avoidance, it seems, wherever possible.

That's why no political parties - except Act, of course - will admit to supporting privatisation of what little remains of our public infrastructures.

It is interesting that 80 per cent of the public submissions to the new Auckland Supercity committee concern the fear that our assets - such as our water and ports - might be sold off. People have reason to believe that a secret agenda does exist.

After all, Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble's successor, Rodney Hide, is the minister in charge - and he has made no promise that assets won't be sold to overseas owners.

Labour MP Phil Twyford was fortunate to get a private member's bill pulled out of the hat last week that requires a referendum before a Supercity council can sell any assets. This will put enormous pressure on Prime Minister John Key to promise that assets won't be sold.

If you think it's bad enough that we are powerless in the face of the Great Bank Tax Avoidance, wait and see what happens if some overseas corporation gets our water.