Letters: Inland Revenue and when businesses go bust; disgruntled diner calls out restaurant portions

The first liquidator’s report on iconic Auckland restaurant SPQR shows the business owed more than $2 million to Inland Revenue and other creditors. Photo / Alex Burton

Maybe the IRD should try tough love

SPQR restaurant’s demise highlights two things (NZ Herald, July 19).

Firstly, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is not very good at collecting debts, and secondly, it’s not a bright idea to use it as a back-up bank for long, and certainly not long enough to rack up a $1.5 million debt.

Unfortunately the IRD’s approach seems to be to allow penalties and interest to accumulate to the point where the business has no choice but to go into liquidation, with consequent job losses and the writing-off of tax owed.

It would be much better if the IRD was proactive from the start in identifying businesses that fail to pay their taxes on time. Tough love might be more effective in getting them back on track than the current policy which effectively provides an extra line of credit, albeit at usurious interest rates.

SPQR can hardly be an isolated case, and to be fair the IRD is not the only government entity with a laissez faire attitude towards recovering money owed; overdue fines and Kāinga Ora rents being other examples.

The overall amounts could well be in the hundreds of millions, which could surely be put to better use in other areas.

Duncan Simpson, Hobsonville Point.

Disgruntled diner

I am fortunately able to dine out without needing to watch the dollars too closely – but do so very selectively.

There are always exceptions, but in my view value for money is hard to find – especially if you are blessed with a partner who prepares exciting, nutritious meals and, above all in this day and age, has the time to prepare and cook them.

I understand from friends in hospitality that the actual cost of the food on my plate is a mere fraction of the price of that meal. The rest is devoured by rent, wages, insurance and power, in fact the same costs that affect every one of us.

So please hospo, give us a bit more to actually eat, especially vegetables, and train staff to professionally deliver your food to your tables. Turn down background music, drape a few curtains and lay a few metres of carpet to deaden other customers’ conversations so that we can hear our own.

I grudgingly understand your rationale for levelling rapacious charges onto a glass of wine – but many of us know the $15-plus per standard nip probably cost $15 a bottle in the local supermarket (let alone wholesale). It does irk.

Robert Burrow, Taupō.

Hospo rip-offs

I agree that it’s a pity so many of our restaurants are having a hard time making a living and it’s surely a measure to some degree of the state of our economy.

But, on the other side of the coin, one thing about restaurants that has always rankled me is their ability to increase the price of wine by a stupendous amount.

Ten or so dollars for what is often a third of a glass really inflates the cost to the consumer of what is often a $15 or so bottle in the shops. A rip-off is how I’d describe it.

Paul Beck, West Harbour.

Sugar tax

Two specialists in economics, Puneet Vatsa and Alan Renwick, discuss the huge depth and number of studies done into something glaringly apparent already, under the heading “Food price strategy can produce a healthier future” (NZ Herald, July 19).

Why can we not call this like it is? A sugar tax is needed.

Talk all you like about the affordability of food today compared to yesterday, the stats between 2014 and 2023 and the huge differences between fruit and vegetables compared to sugary processed foods – the real issue is how to change the eating habits of the nation to avoid continuing down a path of ill health that leads to very early death.

We know New Zealand has the worst rates of obesity and increasing diabetes. There are warnings that health systems globally will be bankrupt in a few years because of diabetes and metabolic disease. We are one of those.

We also know more than 100 countries worldwide have taxed sugary drinks, but New Zealand hasn’t.

The headline of the article should have stated “A tax on sugar will save lives”, rather than a gentle mention in the very last paragraph.

Judy Anderson, Remuera.

Anti-Health Minister

As a GP, I am horrified at the Government’s decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products.

These products are harmful to health and do not help smokers quit. What possible justification is there for this action?

Why is the Associate Health Minister making so many decisions that will cause increased rates of death and disease? Perhaps she should be known as the “Anti-Health” Minister instead.

Dr Rebecca Redwood, Beach Haven.