Taxpayer Talk: Casey Costello on her first 18 months in Parliament
This week on Taxpayer Talk, Jordan sat down with former Chair of the Taxpayers' Union and now Minister Casey Costello, to talk through the highs and lows of her first 18 months in Parliament.In the podcast, we unpack her ministerial briefs, including cracking down on organised crime, the Government’s approach to anti-smoking measures, and her priorities in health – plus why she thinks New Zealanders are looking beyond the headlines. Support the show
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Peter Williams Hosts Taxpayer Talk: Levi Gibbs on a Path to Surplus
“The rainy day has come. We believe it is crucial that the Government cut debt now.” Those words from Taxpayer’s Union researcher Levi Gibbs talking about his new paper “A Path to Surplus” released just a few days before Budget 2025.Levi Gibbs joined host Peter Williams on a special edition of the Taxpayer Talk podcast to discuss the in-depth paper which analyses both the debt and the annual budget deficit, and offers solutions to reduce both.Support the show
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Peter Williams Hosts Taxpayer Talk: David Baker on Exposing Inefficiencies in our Building Sector
This week Peter Williams is joined by social media sensation, David Baker, from Rapid QS. David is a quantity surveyor by trade, specialising in pricing residential buildings—and has spent the last year blowing the whistle on why so many public housing and infrastructure projects cost so much.But price is just the start—David also raising growing concern with agencies being unable to explain why the costs are so high, and has stated a wide-ranging social media campaign to expose these costs and inefficiencies within the industry.Support the show
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Peter Williams Hosts Taxpayer Talk: Hon Ruth Richardson on Budget 2025
This week on Taxpayer Talk, Peter sat down with Ruth Richardson, Minister of Finance during the National-Bolger Government, and catalyst of major economic reforms during the 90s.One of New Zealand's most respected Ministers of Finance, Ruth remains a deep thinker on the country’s dangerous fiscal position and how we can extract ourselves from it.With this year’s Budget only a few weeks away, she sets a path back to fiscal sustainability and tackles universal superannuation, the health system and the corporate tax rate.You can listen to the episode on our website, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio and other good podcast apps. Support the show
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Peter Williams Hosts Taxpayer Talk: Levi Gibbs on New Zealand’s climate costs and the pathway back to surplus
The Taxpayer’s Union popular podcast Taxpayer Talk returns with host Peter Williams and the Taxpayer’s Union Climate and Fiscal Policy analyst Levi Gibbs talking about New Zealand’s commitments (or lack of them) under the Paris Accord and how the Government can close the forecast 17 billion dollar budget deficit.Hear Levi explain why the Treasury forecast of New Zealand’s $20 billion plus commitment to buy carbon credits may not come to pass. Then he suggests ways to better manage the New Zealand Government’s asset schedule to reduce the huge budget black hole. But are the suggestions politically possible? Support the show
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