Te Pāti Māori are calling on the House of Representatives to remove GST from all food sales in Aotearoa.

Aotearoa is experiencing the worst cost of living crisis in generations. Hard working whānau are paying half of their weekly income on rent, a trip to the grocery store is more expensive than it has ever been. Everything is going up but wages. In the last year the price of tomatoes has more than doubled, from $2.94 to $7.29 per kilogram. Today 9 dollars might get you a head of cabbage, and that’s if you can afford the petrol to get to the supermarket in the first place.

GST is a regressive tax that targets lower income whānau who are forced to spend nearly every cent they earn. Meanwhile the wealthy have untaxed wealth accumulating in housing, trusts and investment funds

Our current tax system has poor and working class people subsidising the lifestyles of the rich. We need to shift this tax burden through new taxes on wealth including capital gains, ghost house tax, financial services tax, and well as land and pollution taxes.

The Prime Minister proved that this can be done overnight by lowering GST on petrol by 25 cent as petrol prices continue to skyrocket.

It is time the Government got serious about supporting struggling whānau, and Māori whānau who traditionally have more mouths to feed.

Food is a right and a necessity and should never be taxed.

Please support this petition to remove GST from all kai, and show this Government that we will no longer settle for crumbs.