Questioning District & Regional Councils legality to impose and collect rates.
Ryan made this Official Information request to Nanaia Mahuta
Nanaia Mahuta did not have the information requested.
From: Ryan
Nanaia Mahuta,
As minister for Local Government - To ascertain veracity of demands for 'rates' being claimed by local councils from We the people living in full freehold possession of private property, I request the following information pursuant to the Official Information Act be provided;
1/ Please provide the New Zealand law Act and section which shows I, as the living woman in freely held lawful possession of my private land, am obliged to provide a corporation or entity with any rate or otherwise on demand.
2/ Please provide the New Zealand law Act and section which councils assume to act under in collection of rates by providing land owner details to third parties for debt collection without consent or contract in the event a mortgage is not held.
The Local Government Act 2002 section 62 is cited as terms under which the council acts to recover uncollected rates however section 8 stipulates that the Act binds the crown and section 62 has no relevance nor puts any obligation upon myself as a living woman living on my unencumbered and freely held private land.
Any notices, invoices, or demands made by a corporation including crown owned entities will remain unclaimed without evidence of account rendering any assumed arrears, outstanding amounts or debt, as null and void without claim of right as evidenced by contract.
I await your response so that I may consider if I am obligated to pay anything at all when not bound by contract.
Regards,
Ryan
From: N Mahuta (MIN)
Nanaia Mahuta
Tçnâ koe,
On behalf of Hon Nanaia Mahuta, thank you for your email. Please accept
this as acknowledgement that your email has been received by my office.
While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, and all
messages are carefully read and considered, it is not always possible to
personally reply to all emails. As such, the following guidelines apply:
· Invitations and meeting requests will be processed as soon as
possible and a staff member will be in contact with you in due course
· All media queries will be responded to by a staff member
· Requests for official information will be managed in accordance
with the provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may
include transfer to a more relevant Minister or agency
· If your email falls outside of the Minister’s portfolio
responsibilities, expresses a personal view, or is copied to multiple
Members of Parliament, then your opinion will be noted and your
correspondence may be transferred to another office, or there may be no
further response to you
Thank you for the taking the time to write.
Nga mihi,
Office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta
Minister of Foreign Affairs | Minister of Local Government | Associate
Minister for Mâori Development
DDI: 04 817 8711
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
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From: N Mahuta (MIN)
Nanaia Mahuta
Tēnā koe Ryan,
I acknowledge receipt of your official information request dated 19/8/22
We received your request on 19/8/22. We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 16/9/22, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact our office. If any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into account.
Ngā mihi
Office of Hon Nanaia Mahuta
show quoted sections
From: Fergus Broom
Kia ora Ryan,
On behalf of the Minister, thank you for your email. Having had a look at
your request, please note that your questions will be treated as
correspondence rather than an Official Information Act request, and will
be passed to the Minister.
Ngâ mihi
Fergus
Fergus Broom | Private Secretary – Local Government | Office of Hon Nanaia
Mahuta
show quoted sections
From: Ryan
Hello Fergus Broom,
I make this request for official information relating to ‘Rates’ & the demands of, made by local government agents with such information to be supplied by the minister as an official information release.
I do not have the relevant and pertinent
Act(s) and their specific section(s) which the minister appears to have and third parties appear to be acting upon which has prompted this request to be specifically made under the Official Information Act & it’s provisions as requested and confirmed by the ministers office herein.
We can continue to correspond about it here if you’d like to engage however the minister is reminded of their obligations under the Act and to address the request for official information accordingly and within this platform for the benefit of the public.
Best regards,
Ryan
From: Nathan Croft
Tçnâ koe
Please find attached correspondence from Hon Nanaia Mahuta in response to
your request for information under the Official Information Act 1982 on 19
August 2022.
Ngâ mihi
Nathan Croft| Private Secretary – Local Government | Office of Hon Nanaia
Mahuta
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From: Ryan
Nathan Croft,
The provided response states that rates are a tax.
Property Rates or let’s just call it property taxes, have a goods & services tax applied which would make this a tax on a tax.
Please provide the Act, section & specific wording which empowers a private GST registered company incorporated under the Companies Act 1993, to demand a Tax plus GST and apply penalties on privately held property.
Please also provide the Act & specific section & wording stating the maximum penalty for non payment of rates.
Yours sincerely,
Ryan
From: Margot Dow
Dear Ryan
Please find attached correspondence from Hon Kieran McAnulty, Minister of
Local Government, in response to your email of 22 December regarding
council rating powers.
Kind regards
Margot
Margot Dow | Private Secretary for Local Government | Office of Hon Kieran
McAnulty
MP for Wairarapa | Minister for Emergency Management | Minister for Racing
Deputy Leader of the House | Minister of Local Government | Minister for
Rural Communities
Parliament Buildings | Wellington
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