Mana News editor Joe Trinder

The average wage of a New Zealand CEO is now 100 times of the average worker, In Europe it’s only 26 times. We have the biggest inequality gap between the wealthy and poor in the OECD nations. The economy is suffering because money is circulating between a privileged few. New Zealand Aotearoa is no longer a land of opportunity it’s the land of the wrong rich crowd.

Back in the day the CEO of NZ Forest Products then the biggest company in the country was on 8k per year the highest paid worker on the floor in the Pulp and paper industry of NZFP was the machine tender.

The most obscene conspiracy against the New Zealand public is how little these leaders of industry are paying in taxes and when these CEOs eventually fail they are offered golden parachutes worth millions.

Is this the kind of New Zealand you want to live in? Surely you know somebody with a full time job trying to survive but unable to save for a rainy day? Do you still believe in the trickle-down effect?

We need to move the tax burden from the working class kiwi to those who can afford to pay taxes through a Hone Heke financial transaction tax, this is necessary if New Zealand is going to pay off $80 billion government debt accrued bailing out corporations. Its time New Zealand introduced representation on  corporate boards of directors split between labour and shareholders through an executive board and a non-executive board.

Why can’t we have economic policy that makes corporations couple the CEOs wages to 25 times their minimum waged worker. This will incentivise corporations to raise the minimum wage for the benefit of all New Zealanders.