Why do we have poor in NZ. Labour are definitely better than National on that score but really both parties have and continue to endorse policies that have created, entrenched wacked it to the poor.
Our free trade policy has meant lowered wages. No employer here can afford to pay decent wages when slave labour imports are flooding our country. Those lower wages mean a lower tax take so our social services have less money. Then there is subsidisation of the low waged. Working for families, housing benefits, etc are necessessary because of low wages.

The the icing on the cake is high rents and house prices caused by increasing our population by more than half a million people through imigration. The cost of increasing that population is astronomical in strained health services, roading etc.
This has created wealth for some and also massive debt for other home owners who now consider themselves better than those who now cannot buy property in their own country due to the low wages caused by slave labour imports.
Cheap imports and the resulting lowered wages have forced many young mothers into working 24 hours a day with no rest. When they get home from work like everyone else tey are exhausted but have to start cooking and cleaning and working weekends also. You have destroyed their quality of life as all many women now have time for is working, childcare and cleaning.

Then ofcourse business is not really viable here anymore and because of that environment many small businessess here operate in debt.

Workers have born the entire brunt of all these policies under a Labour government some of the rough edges have been taken off but if ojur country takes a hit and our risky dollar collapses we will have no industry here and half a million more people to pay benefits to.

I was astyounded to learn that 90% of jobs here are created by small business. Why the hell are we opening up NZ to big foreign investors. We should start to close the free trade door gradually but surely and encourage the businesses that provide jobs here.
We are a low wage economy by design.

I’m just about ready to run for parliament and tell the people they are being impoverished by their own governments both Labour and National’s policies. But of course they know that already and its why labours support has collapsed and we are now at the mercy of the even worse “National Party”

So applause to Labour for being a quite a bit better than National but you are still a disaster for NZ.

If you want my vote for Labour I’ll accept the rest but get rid of the “Search and Surveylance act or the greens will be your replacement. You’ll be history if don’t completely scrap this policy. Not just watered down. You need to scrap it or you can gon join that dole cue which will be growing by the day and bigger than we can now manage on our reduced wages.

Of course the supermarket already knows the consumer will pay $4.00 for a bag of apples – so what the hell – may as well keep charging $4.00 and make the extra profit. Goff is a fool. the only people more foolish are those who get sucked in by the faint prospect of $2.60 in their pocket.

Registering for GST is not quite that simple, but plenty of the self employed do claim back some interesting things

For you to argue that they pay GST you also have to argue that my employer pays my income tax and the bank pays my rates. I would argue that, in both cases, I am the one that pays, they are simply performing a transaction.

But anyway, to go back to pollywog’s original point… removing GST off fruit and veg will not benefit restaurants, because they don’t actually incur any costs from GST on fruit and veg.

In every transaction there is a collection of GST and a payment of GST.

The outcome of netting these collections and payments is a GST burden for the final buyer in the chain of transactions but that is a completely different observation to your original assertion.

“the vast majority [of businesses] will also be net GST payers” no
“the vast majority [of businesses] will also be net GST collectors” yes

When I pay GST on the milk I buy from my dairy then I pay it and the dairy collects it. The money comes out of my pocket not theirs, their only cost is the administrative overhead of taking my money, holding it briefly, faffing about with GST returns, and then passing my money on to the government.

Bernie pays $11.25 (incl) for a tray of eggs. Anna gives $1.25 to the government which Bernie then claims back, meaning he pays… $10 and she gets … $10.

Bernie charges $20 (excl) per tray of eggs. Caroline pays $22.50, Bernie gives $2.50 to the government, the government gives that $2.50 back to Caroline.

Once all the payments and refunds have been processed:
Anna gets $10
Bernie pays $10, and gets $20 (a 100% mark-up).
Caroline pays $20.

No-one has yet actually paid any GST. Bernie has collected $2.50 on behalf of the government (as has Anna who collected $1.25), but that’s a very different thing from paying GST.

When Caroline charges David (and his hordes of mountain biker mates) the equivalent of $40 (excl) per tray of eggs they pay $45. Caroline gives that $5 to the government, and David and his mates get refunded nothing.

So the $1.25 GST on the original eggs is paid by … David
The $1.25 GST on Bernie’s mark-up is paid by … David
The $2.50 GST on Caroline’s mark-up is paid by … David.

Anna, Bernie and Caroline collect GST on behalf of the government, but they don’t pay it themselves. The only cost to all of them is administrative overhead and general aggro of GST administration. The end consumer (David) pays the GST on every component, every value added service and every mark-up.

P.S. Anyone who wants to quibble about the number of eggs eaten by a mountain biker can
a) consider the advantage of round numbers
b) go out to breakfast with any of the moutain bikers I know

I don’t think anyone suggests this is the only thing Goff is going to do. Also, remember that you’re talking $50 a year to a family with under $17,600 a year or $338 a week to spend. It’s effectively another day’s spending money.

“Labour leader Phil Goff says exempting fresh fruit and vegetables from GST could cost as little as $150 million”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3678457/GST-free-fruit-veges-costed-at-150m

Phil can’t even promise to take GST back to 12.5%:

PHIL GOFF interviewed by GUYON ESPINER

PHIL GOFF – Opposition Leader
No I can’t make that promise

http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/q-phil-goff-interview-3543882

If Bernie marks his eggs up then he collects and pays GST on that mark-up.

Your restaurant will only avoid GST if it pays exactly the same value for all of its purchases as it charges for all of its sales – i.e. it’s a freakin’ non-profit organisation

Anita, I’m an accountant and I strongly urge you to go back to accounting basics: put some numbers to your example and work out the money flow correctly …