Minister Watts Silent Again as Taxpayer Data-Grab Replaces Census

The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming IRD and Statistics NZ after the Government announced it’s scrapping the Census and replacing it with a mass data-harvest from across government departments without public consent.

IRD will share sensitive personal data like income and benefit details that must be linkable back to individual taxpayers to be usable by Statistics NZ.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman James Ross said:

“Big Brother is back with IRD’s latest taxpayer data lolly-scramble. There’s zero excuse for leaking sensitive income and benefit data, and covering for Stats NZ’s Census failure last time around doesn’t come close to justifying it.”

“After previously leaking more than 250,000 taxpayers’ unencrypted details to foreign tech giants, Revenue Minister Simon Watts is back for round two. This time, it’s every taxpayer’s identifiable data on the line.”

“Taxpayers aren’t being asked, and they haven’t consented. Just like with IRD’s custom audiences scandal, there are huge ethical concerns being swept under the rug in the hope no one notices. Not to mention possible legal breaches of the Tax Administration Act.”

“Minister Watts’ silence while his department repeatedly throws Kiwis under the bus speaks volumes. His job is to represent taxpayers, not sell them out to make life easier for bureaucrats.”

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling for the plan to be scrapped.