David Henderson New Zealand property developer based in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. In 1994 he founded the

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

magazine the '' Free Radical''. He was also a student of Zenith Applied Philosophy, "It really sparked my interest. I found it greatly stimulating and inspiring, immensely so. They got a terribly bad name, a bad rap." From 1992 to 1995 he was audited 27 times after claiming a

GST GST may refer to: Taxes * General sales tax * Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions: ** Goods and services tax (Australia) ** Goods and Services Tax (Canada) ** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong) **G ...

refund and the Inland Revenue Department demanded he pay $NZ924,341 in taxes and penalties. He was charged with fraud, his business failed and he was bankrupted and had to sell his house. The IRD eventually conceded that he did not owe it $NZ924,341, and fraud charges against him were dropped. They also admitted that they owed him $NZ64,000.This experience led him to write a book ''Be Very Afraid: One Man's Stand Against the IRD''. In 2007 his story was made into a film by

South Pacific Pictures South Pacific Pictures is a New Zealand television production company. The company produces drama series, mini-series, telemovies and feature films for the domestic market and international market. SPP's largest property is ''Shortland Street'' ...

, entitled ''

We're Here To Help ''We're Here to Help'' is a 2007 Kafkaesque comedy film written and directed by Jonothan Cullinane and starring Erik Thomson, Miriama Smith, and Michael Hurst. It was produced by South Pacific Pictures South Pacific Pictures is a New Zeal ...

''. Henderson's company, Property Ventures Limited is undertook a number of developments including the billion dollar new town, Five Mile, in Queenstown. This failed and the resulting site was known as "Hendo's hole" In November 2007 saw the opening in Christchurch of a new style of hotel named HotelSO. This building, acquired by Henderson in 2004, was occupied by the Inland Revenue Department. Applications were made in the High Court at Christchurch on 16 May 2008 to have Mr Henderson's Five Mile Holdings and Property Ventures placed in liquidation. In early August 2008, the Christchurch City Council held a short-notice urgent meeting about sensitive central city property purchases, then on 8 August 2008 announced that it would buy five of Henderson's properties for approximately $NZ17 million. Henderson was to have first option to buy back the properties. This decision caused much civic controversy. The High Court in Christchurch placed Henderson in bankruptcy on 29 November 2010.

Footnotes

References

External links

We're Here To HelpProperty Ventures
website
Five Mile Town developmentHotelSO
website
Christchurch City Council media release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, David New Zealand businesspeople Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Christchurch