IRD caught violating privacy – Waatea News: Maori radio station

In the file

Adam Gifford

Bill Karaitiana | IRD caught in privacy breach

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A Māori accountant says he feels violated by the Inland Revenue giving taxpayer data to social media companies for marketing campaigns – and it shows the department doesn’t understand its core business.

A Māori accountant says he feels violated by the Inland Revenue handing over taxpayer data to social media companies for marketing campaigns – and it shows the department doesn’t understand its core business.

Bill Karaitiana says that as well as being a clear breach of privacy laws, it shows that the IRD is ineffective at developing relationships with taxpayers, let alone Māori.

He said that rather than abusing its power, the ministry should be more transparent about its activities and why people are in arrears.

“I don’t think they have answered the question: ‘Why did these things happen?’ Thirty-seven percent of the tax owed is GST. It is a turnover tax. It is a result of people doing business not being able to pay GST or not paying it. I would like to know from the IRD why GST is the largest unpaid tax in this country,” Mr Karaitiana says.

He says the IRD got an extra $29 million in the budget to go after delinquent taxpayers, but there’s no indication how the effectiveness of that spending will be measured.