Pay it back - IRD style

"A payment is late if it is posted or delivered to Inland Revenue after the due date. If you send in a payment after the due date, you will be charged an initial 1% late payment penalty on the day after the due date.

A further 4% penalty will be charged if there is still an amount of unpaid tax (including penalties), at the end of the 7th day from the due date. Every month after the due date, a further 1% will be added to any unpaid amount (including penalties)."

Thanks to Insolent Prick for his discourse on the situation: link
However the biggest disgust that I have had over this entire episode is that politicians in general seem to think that just "paying it back" would be restitution enough (those that you can get to admit a theoretical guilt from).
However there is nowhere else, and no other party that can play by those rules.  In particular the money that was spent from the public purse is coerced under the penalty structure above. 

Note that it is worse if you were avoiding tax - this is just the penalties for not paying on time - which includes if you didn't know you had a bill to pay.  Which can occur up to 7 years after the fact.  Even if it takes a court case to establish some unclear portion of tax legislation which you could have justifiably thought you were in the right over.

What really needs to happen is for all political parties who abused the parliamentary services funding and electoral spending caps to be treated in the same way as every person and business in the country.  They should be audited for the last 7 years and made to pay for every cent spent unjustifiably, with penalties and back interest.

This is the threat that they as politicians and political parties have created.  It would be nice to see them see what that feels like.
Tags: IRD, tax, political, nz, parties