I’m saying the government owning state owned enterprises provides an additional revenue stream for the government coffers that doesn’t rely on taxes.

That money comes from consumers and unless those consumers are tourists or buyers from overseas it's actually another form of taxation.

The fact that SOEs are run like any other corporation, just with the government as the shareholder, means they’re just as effective as any other corporate entity.

I am not against SOEs but I am against them running as a for profit entity. They should be run as a non profit entity to provide competition for the monopolies that run this country.

We should have kiwibank but we should also have a state owned supermarket chain, petrol stations, power providers etc. They should be run as a non profit or at a minimum have their profits capped somehow.