Economy: SOE bonus scheme the PM’s priority?

Promising millions in bonuses to SOE shareholders shows where the PM’s priorities lie.

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18th August, 2012

One of the reasons King Charles I was beheaded in 1649 was that, without Parliament’s approval, he raised taxes and spent the proceeds. Forty years later, after the Glorious Revolution, the English Parliament passed the Bill of Rights, requiring that the Crown tax or spend only with Parliament’s approval. That act remains an explicit part of our law and underpins the authority of the New Zealand Government. In 1976, a public servant, a Mr Fitzgerald, challenged the order of incoming Prime Minister Robert Muldoon suspending the 1974 New Zealand Superannuation scheme – Labour’s scheme, ...

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