Grey Power in the Cook Islands says it is not going to back down in demanding the government refund pensioners' back-taxes.
Grey Power in the Cook Islands says it is not going to back down in demanding the government refund pensioners' back-taxes.
About 260 Cook Islanders recieve the New Zealand pension, and last year the government began taxing them for the first time, ruling that they should also pay two years worth of tax arrears.
However, Grey Power says the government later changed its mind and promised to reimburse all pensioners who had paid the arrears.
Its vice-president, Dennis Tunui, says the refunds have never come through, and they will march on the first day of parliament to demand that the government honour it's promise.
"Irrespective of who will be the government, we will be standing right in front of them. We are prepared to do it a whole week, one day after the other, until they do something about it."
Dennis Tunui says they want the new government's first order of business to be refunding pensioners' back-taxes.
