Govt wants answers after IRD polls on political views

The Government wants to know why the IRD included questions of a political nature in a recent poll on New Zealand’s tax systems.

This comes as National finance spokeswoman Amy Adams has written to State Services Commissioner (SSC) Peter Hughes asking for the department to conduct a formal investigation into the saga.

Over the weekend, it was revealed that IRD had asked questions about whether people sit to the right, or the left of the political spectrum in a poll about globalisation and fairness in the tax system.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the questions should never be attached to any research from Government departments. “That’s just not appropriate,” she said at her postCabinet press conference.

State Services Minister Chris Hipkins said he was “concerned” to hear about the question in the survey.

A spokeswoman for Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said it was the minister’s understanding that Colmar Brunton wrote the question and suggested it be included in the survey. The spokeswoman said Nash and the IRD’s Commissioner “both agreed it was an inappropriate question”.