UNITE’s taxes
July 27th, 2011 at 7:00 am by David FarrarPaul McBeth reports:
Inland Revenue is chasing unionist Matt McCarten’s Unite Support Services for $150,750 in unpaid taxes after the department forced the company into liquidation last month.
McCarten’s vehicle, which supplied administrative support services to the youth-orientated union Unite, was put into liquidation by a High Court order last month after the IRD pursued it for “failure to provide for taxation,” according to the first liquidator’s report.
As far as I now this is not just unpaid income tax and/or GST. But it includes unpaid PAYE, which is quite horrific as the employer acts in a trustee capacity for the employee who actually pays the tax. An employer that spent the employees’ PAYE on other activities would be lashed by unions as a bad employer.
You also have the hypocrisy of a union (and its spin off the Mana Party) advocating that people should pay more taxes, when they don’t even pay their own taxes, and effectively stole the PAYE tax from their employees.
Related posts:
- CTU asks UNITE to explain unpaid PAYE tax
- Is UNITE solvent?
- Another non tax paying union
- Is UNITE solvent?
July 27th, 2011 at 7:24 am
A suggestion for a Tui billboard
This is hypocrisy from McCarten on an almost unimaginable scale. If an employer with Unite staff on board did this, McCarten would rightly be screaming from the roof-tops. Any respect I had for Matt McCarten has evaporated.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 7:25 am
Do you not understand DPF?, Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat is a socialist and as we all know socialists think taxes are for other people.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 7:27 am
Once again, the leftist attitude…. do as we say (pay tax), but not as we do.
Why is this not tax evasion?
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 7:27 am
Macacacacarten, the socialist tax cheat, deserves to be chased by the IRD.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 7:36 am
Why do people find it appropriate to imitate McCarten’s speech impediment?
Secondly, since GD isn’t up yet… ACT really needs to grow some balls and start attacking National more vigorously… Position itself as a party that will hold National to account. That’s what helped Prebble get 7%. Rodney’s ass-kissing beginning from 2005 was what fucked ACT up.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 7:57 am
Agree with CW. McCarten may be unlikeable, but ridiculing someone for having a stammer is infantile.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 8:05 am
If it is PAYE then not paying it is a criminal offence – it is not just a matter of the IRD doing a bit of debt collection.
This make Matt a “rich prick” because as we are constantly told it is only the rich that avoid paying their share of taxes.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 8:11 am
And a link to a recent and actual criminal case involving PAYE
Vote:http://www.sharkpatrol.co.nz/blog/2011/04/bankrupted-director-paul-la-franchie-gets-home-detention/
July 27th, 2011 at 8:12 am
Considering the Tax-Cheat McCarten’s disgusting comments about Ron Trotter when he passed away I’d say his speech impediment is more than fair game…..
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 8:17 am
@Longknives – some here were making fun of McCarten’s stammer before Sir Ron’s death.
Vote:Some people need to learn to act their age.
July 27th, 2011 at 8:39 am
Does UNITE have the same accountants as NZ First?
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 9:10 am
“but ridiculing someone for having a stammer is infantile”
Oh FFS!
The man is scum, he has attacked opponents families, cheered at the death of Sir Ron Trotter and called for assassination of Sir Roger Douglas.
The prick deserves everything that comes his way.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 9:21 am
I can’t wait to see McCarten locked up for this. If this was a business that had failed to pay PAYE, McCarten would be acting as judge, jury and executioner in his role as a media commentator. So, here’s hoping he is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
If there is one thing I cannot stand is hypocrisy, and this is hypocrisy at its best, as only the left can do.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 9:59 am
Do the employees of a company that does not pass their PAYE deductions to IRD remain liable for the bill?
Vote:Can they be required to pay IRD and then be told that it is their responsibility to try and get their money back from Matt’s company?
July 27th, 2011 at 10:22 am
Nobody should be surprised by such double standards from a leftist organisation.
cheers
David Prosser
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 10:38 am
I would like to know a bit more detail about this.
Firstly, are the employees – are there any – still liable for the PAYE?
Secondly, is McCarten hoping his terminal illness is going to get him off this hook? I do remember his sordid and infantile glee at the passing of others and my how he lorded it when he could. It sucks to be him, payback’s a bitch!
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 10:46 am
@ alwyn; no; liability is solely with the employer who is required BY LAW to make the necessary deductions, hold the money in trust, and pay iot to IRD by no later than the 20th of the month following.
The real irony though is that the Sunday before Labour released its tax package McCarten wrote a gloating column in the Herald on Sunday which began thus:
McCarten is not only a hypocrite; he is as bad an employer as those bosses who his union accuses of ripping off low-paid staff. He has effectively stolen money from the New Zealand taxpayer over an 18 month period which began before and ended after the 2008 General Election. One doesn’t have to be Einstein to work out what he used the money for.
I’ve blogged about this today, and include a list of questions that the media should be asking McCarten. I won’t link to it, but it’s easy enough to find by clicking through on my name at the top of this comment. I’ve already had one journo tweet me to comment that McCarten has not returned their phonecalls and e-mails. He quite simply MUST be made to account for his illegal, unethical behaviour, and his apparent concern for political causes above his obligations to and on behalf of his staff.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 11:20 am
It is not only the taxpayer he has ripped off by not paying PAYE, but if any of his staff are kiwisaver contributors he has stolen from them as well. Part of the PAYE payment to the IRD every month is the employees kiwisaver contributions as well as the employers compulsory contributions which the IRD then pass on to the kiwisaver provider. No PAYE payment means no kiwisaver payment means he has stolen from his employees retirement savings. How do the employees get this money back?
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 11:30 am
He’s a thief and he stole that money deliberately and with full knowledge of what he was doing. He should be prosecuted just the same as anyone else.
Vote:That doesn’t excuse making fun of his speech, attack him for what he does of his own volition, not for what he can’t control.
July 27th, 2011 at 11:40 am
Quite right Claire; any employee deductions have been deprived of the opportunity to earn interest over that period. That money lost can never be recovered.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
I think he did apologize for his comments on Ron Trotter.
My copy of his autobiography is stuck in storage in my parents’ attic, sadly, otherwise I’d quote it verbatim, but in it he actually does go on at length about what a bad look it is for leftists not to pay their taxes, using Matiu Rata as an example. All I can say is that he should have taken his own advice.
Anyone else have a copy and prepared to hunt for the appropriate passage?
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Why hasnt whaleoil commented on this in his blog. Its the sort of thing he would be into like a bull terrior with thief allegations over PAYE etc
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Typical left-ard hypocrisy.
Do as I say, not as I do.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Ask and ye shall receive.
It’s up now.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
So will the newspapers stop using him as a political columnist? If he of all people has been caught out not paying taxes, that would be the same as having a column on the benefits of cultural diversity written by David Duke, or maybe a column on Christian family values by Graham Capill. Surely, his own fans or fellow party/union members must be the most disappointed?
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
BlairM
“My copy of his autobiography …”
Woah! Scary.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
bruv said @ 9.10am “The prick deserves everything that comes his way.”
McCarten’s writings are offensive, alright.
Vote:You mock someone’s disability. Are you much better than him?
July 27th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
And I also remember what the uncensored version of this comment said, too
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2010/12/an_outright_fib.html#comment-775789
But if that makes you feel good, then so be it. You must be a very angry man.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Dry run for how they’re planning to run the country? Spend other people’s money until it’s bankrupt.
Vote:July 27th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Tauhei posted some interesting research
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2011/06/is_unite_solvent-2.html#comment-843931
Vote: