Petition calls for no GST on food

Good and Services Tax should be taken off all food, according to hundreds of Whangarei residents.

A petition saying the 12.5 percent GST should be removed from all food is being organised by new political party RAM Residents Action Movement.

About 300 people have signed the petition in Whangarei, says local member Vaughan
Gunson.

"It think it makes a lot of sense for ordinary people," he says. "As a tax cut it would help a lot of people.

"Taxing food is immoral," he says.

Mr Gunson says the petition is looking at cutting GST from all food to keep the system simple and issues like poor quality food could be dealt with by other ways.

Mr Gunson was in Cameron St Mall last week encouraging people to sign the petition and join RAM.

The party has stood in the last two local body elections in Auckland and this year decided to branch out and form an MMP party, he says.

It now has enough financial members to become registered.

As well as removing GST from food, the party stands for free public transport, 2
percent interest state loans for first homes, lifting minimum wage to $15 an hour, free tertiary education and student allowances, and social inclusion.

For 20-year-old Whangarei resident Kurt Richards, the idea of taking GST off food struck a chord.

"Food costs a lot as it is. I would prefer if it was cheaper – I think anybody would."

He says he would prefer GST to be taken off food than to have an earnings tax cut but says taxes need to come off petrol too.

"You’re car eats gas too."

- © Fairfax NZ News