Written By: - Date published: 6:50 am, June 19th, 2008 - 46 comments
Categories: election 2008, john key, national, slippery -
Tags: inflation, productivity
Key reckons he could bring down inflation by targeting ‘low quality’ government spending. How?
To counter inflation, you need to increase productivity. Inflation is projected to run at 4.7% this year. The Government makes up a third of the economy. If Key was to bring that down to 2% by increasing Government productivity how much would he have to increase Government productivity? About 7.5% a year.
Productivity growth during New Zealand’s history has averaged about 2% a year. The idea that Key will magically lift that number to 7.5% for the public sector, especially when he has no experience and no plans, is laughable.
[Bear in mind also, all the stories you hear about productivity in the public sector being low are just stories. Most of what the Government produces is not bought by the consumer there is no price on the outputs it makes and that means the normal way of measuring productivity ($ of output/$ of input or labour) doesn't work. How do you work out whether productivity of the Army or the Police or teachers is up or down? You can't.]
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Scoopit!
Burt:
A: grow up never mind, boys will be boys.
B: why would I pay any creedence to your arguments when you persist with the tory idea that we’ve been ‘waiting nine years for tax cuts’? Ask yourself what happened to taxes in 1999.
C: The tax cuts aren’t regressive, so there’s no problem there. They also cut corporate tax, so your ’9 years’ line is even more of a joke.
bryan: “Gun point” What is it with kids these days? For some people, paying tax is like trying to make a three year old eat veges. I take that back. It’s what I imagine it would look like if an adult were acting like a three year old being forced to eat veges.
MPs don’t approve pay rises of any public servants like doctors. That’s an operational matter and handled by the Ministries (or other employing body, eg DHBs for doctors), not the Ministers or Parliament.
It’s a very important distinction at the heart of how we do government in NZ.
Also, don’t you want bigger tax cuts? Where’s the money going to come from for pay increases on the scale you’re talking. I mean, you just called for a roughly 50% increase in the wage cost for Education. You’re talking a billion a year plus at a rough guess for your increase in teachers’ pay alone.
Steve P.
I would have thought that many on the left would be calling for big pay increases in govt sector employment. Must be hard defending low pay increases over time and calling for bigger wage rises at the same time – how do you do it?
I’m all for larger public service pay rises. But you’ve got to be able to pay for them.
Matthew: given “imprisonment for up to five years and/or a fine of up to $50,000.” appears under penalties on the IRD website I don’t think “at gun point” is too far into hyperbole when it comes to describing taxation.
Steve: Labour is popular in South Auckland for the same reason Jesus Christ is: an unwillingness to take personal responsibility for ones situation. Those residents of South Auckland who do take personal responsibility for their lives find themselves moving on.
Steve: “I’m all for larger public service pay rises.” I bet you are
Bryan, you read far too much PJ O’Rourke and it’s not helping you become any smarter.
You’re either saying there should be no laws, no penalties or no enforcement.
Which is it?
Bryan, that’s as stupid as saying you’re prevented from committing murder “at gunpoint” because there are associated penalties. Do you want any enforcement of law in New Zealand? I guess not.
Not that I really want to reduce my response to your level, but just quietly, you can head off to a country with no taxes at any time, good luck with that. The decent folk of this country will look it not as extortion, but as a price for services better provided collectively.
And you’re still looking like that three year old, having your wee tantrum, shoulting at mummy that you don’t like vegetables, so you shouldn’t have to eat them.
P.S from what I’ve read here all you got out of your experiences in South Auckland was a tendency to look back with bigot-tinted glasses (I’m not sure which colour that is specifically), as opposed to some meaningful insight. How is voting for Labour showing an unwillingness to take ‘personal responsibility’?
Have the opposition got any policies to make the alternative one of ‘taking responsibility’? Or are you just generalising, and launching a tirade at a few hundred thousand people you seem to percieve as lazy, irresponsible bludgers?
Matthew/Felix: Gentlemen I am simply reinforcing the point that many on the socialist end of the political spectrum seem to forget: the right to tax that governments have, needs to be accompanied by careful spending what it must be remembered is other peoples money.
For example Labour’s current plan to make redundancy clauses compulsory in employment contracts is yet another example of a government being very free with other peoples money.
Bryan
If you believe that a tax cut is the govt giving people money then it naturally follows that the govt are allowed to spend their own money how they like. Welcome to socialism. Please don’t confuse the issue with absurd assertions like tax payers money is the money of tax payers spent for them by the govt.
Of course money paid in taxes is to be spent as the govt see fit. The business of govt is whatever govt define it to be.
Bryan, reinforce away. Don’t forget that the state is the enabler of private enterprise, not some obstruction as the libertarians would have you believe.
Calling taxation theft is not simply reinforcing the idea that tax money needs to be spent carefully as you posit. It’s implying that it is taken against will and used for purposes to no benefit whatsoever to the payer.
Clearly false.
And of course your original comment was about WfF – surely you know WfF is in effect a rebate on tax paid – no one gets back more than they pay in taxes so your original premise was a bit off too.
burt, you wouldn’t know socialism if it bit you on the arse and nationalised your industry. Please don’t pretend to speak for it.