The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming this afternoon’s announcement by Science and Innovation Minister Paul Goldsmith of an additional $74.6 million in Budget 2017 for Callaghan Innovation’s corporate welfare “Growth Grants”.

“There is nothing scarier than a Government in surplus and a politician's willingness to waste money on corporate welfare," says Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams.

"Instead of delivering tax relief, it appears the Government’s priority is ‘Goldsmith Grants’ and more Callaghan corporate welfare.”

"Rather than hire an army of bureaucrats to pick winners with R&D grants, the Government should scrap its $1.36 billion dollar corporate welfare regime and use that money to cut company tax from 28 to 22.5 percent. That way, the many businesses, and not the few, could afford to get ahead."

Jim Rose's most recent report on corporate welfare, Welfare Bums: Adding up the cost of corporate welfare in the 2016 Budget is available at www.taxpayers.org.nz/welfare_bums.

Key facts on corporate welfare (based on Budget 2016 figures):

• Corporate welfare cost taxpayers $1.36 billion this year, up from $1.2 billion in the 2015/16 financial year
• The Government spends the equivalent of $803 per household on corporate welfare
• Handouts to the private sector in Science and Innovation have grown to $250 million, co-funding “commercialisations”, R&D and start-up grants. Today's announcement increases that further.

|  A Taxpayers Union release  ||  May 10, 2017