Tax the rich to feed the kids

I’ve just got around to watching In the Zone (TVNZ OnDemand), the local documentary movie chronicling Terrance Wallace’s ambitious plans to inject a small dose of equality into Auckland’s public high school system. Chicago-born and raised, Wallace came to New Zealand and set up the InZone Project, which provided home bases in the Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls’ Grammar catchments. Kids who’d never have a chance of attending these ‘‘top’’ schools could legitimately enrol because they were now in zone, ensconced in one of his project’s hostels. For some of the students, the experience was transformative.

I watched this programme during the week in which the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year winners were announced. Among the finalists for the supreme prize was Lisa King, co-founder of the social enterprise Eat My Lunch. Her organisation sells meals, and the money raised goes towards school lunches for kids who would otherwise go hungry.

There were plenty more people in the various categories who were doing truly selfless work for their communities, but the movie and the awards also threw a harsh spotlight onto the gaps these good folk were admirably plugging.

They also raised the question: Should we rely on the goodwill of the Terrance Wallaces and Lisa Kings of this world to provide hope, help and something as basic as a sound education or lunches for hungry kids? Seems that if this country cannot do something about the growing inequality that exists between communities then sadly, we have to.

At the end of January, the planet’s most rich and powerful gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They did not want to talk about taxes and they certainly did not want to talk about tax avoidance, but historian Rutger Bregman was not prepared to ignore the large, grey mammal rampaging around the room.

‘‘I hear people talking the language of participation, justice, equality and transparency but almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right? And of the rich just not paying their fair share,’’ he railed. ‘‘It feels like I’m at a firefighters’ conference and no one’s allowed to speak about water.’’

The executive director of Oxfam International, Winnie Byanyima, agreed. ‘‘Extreme economic inequality is out of control. We’re in a world where governments Terrance Wallace set up the InZone Project.

do not tax wealth enough, do not tax the rich enough.’’

How does this tie in with Wallace and King’s compassionate programmes? One of the most interesting scenes in the In the Zone movie was at a fund-raising evening to try to rake in the $300,000 he desperately needed to support the growth of InZone. It was a glittering affair with the wealthy and powerful in attendance, including former Prime Minister John Key.

It left me wondering how much better off public schools in poorer suburbs and hungry kids might be if the tax rate for the wealthy and seriously rich was hiked and the loopholes plugged. Perhaps then there would be no need to rely on the largesse of the wellheeled attending charity events to help fund escape routes to ‘‘top’’ school zones. And there would be fewer kids with rumbling tummies.