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8:20 pm, September 8th, 2026 - No comments
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Looks like the Taxpayers Union has now gone offline so that we have no idea where its funding came from.
Because it claimed, without justification, that it was a democratic organisation with a commitment to the public good, and so it registered as an incorporated society.
One of the obligations of an incorporated society is publicise accounts each year. Here are the TPU accounts from last year.
It had income of $2.3 million but expenses of $2.5 million. I thought it would be building up a warchest for the campaign like it did last time when it had nearly a million dollars in the bank.
This time it looks like TPU has a lot more employees. And a lot less money in the bank.
But thanks to it deregistering we will no longer have any ability to understand how it is funded. And we will not know how much of a warchest it has, at least some of which may be funded from overseas.
Which is a concern.
After all it gets lots of media attention and it funds the Curia Poll which I always had concerns about.
The latest poll looks dubious. I mean Labour and TOP both being hit? Sure one might be hit but both? Are Labour voters really going to switch to Act?
Over in the UK Nigel Farage is being pummeled because Reform anonymously fed polls paid for by donations by crypto bros to the media and these were used to attack Labour.
Over in Aotearoa we have polls quite possibly funded by Atlas entities and circulated by TPU being used to attack the Labour Party.
Please explain to me why we should not be concerned for our democracy.
