These are the REAL bludgers that the Labour Party should be talking about in key speeches. They are the ones that get most financial benefit out of our state infrastructure, and the ones that hoard their wealth, using every trick in the book to increase it at the expense of those that really need it. Shame on them!
Inland Revenue has found only half of wealthy individuals worth more than $50 million each are paying the top personal tax rate, despite Government moves to combat tax avoidance.
There are about 250 New Zealanders with wealth in excess of $50m, deemed “high wealth individuals” by Inland Revenue.
…
New figures obtained under the Official Information Act show a sample by Inland Revenue of 184 of those individuals, taken between 2009 and 2011, found 49.5 per cent had declared they had earned $70,000 a year or more. The rest declared they earned less. Those who earn more than $70,000 are in the top tax bracket and pay 33 cents tax in the dollar.
The figure has fallen slightly from the Inland Revenue’s previous sample, taken between 2001 and 2008, which found 50 per cent declared they earned enough to put them in the top tax bracket. The top tax bracket over that period kicked in at $60,000 and paid 39 cents tax in the dollar.
These tax dodgers are the people that know all the loopholes and speculative tricks, but have little sense of humanity, empathy for strugglers, or sense of responsibility to the well-being of others and society.
The article was also potentially misleading in suggesting that half of the uber wealthy actually pay their fair share of tax. Certainly if you are worth $50 million plus it is extraordinary that you would only have declared income of less than $70 thousand. But it does not measure the amount actually paid.
A quick back of the envelope calculation would suggest that someone with $50 million worth of assets getting a 2% return on most of it and then dividing this amount by two for their partner should be earning $450,000 per annum. I wonder how many of the uber wealthy are declaring this amount?
The framing also an attempt to take the focus away from the real issue, which is corporate welfare.
Concerning self with a couple of hundred people, is simply another attempt at class warfare, to distract from coporate welfare, which is one of the core issues which has wrecked NZ, and will further do so!
Yep, and reading NACTs innovation list I see a hell of a lot more corporate welfare in our immediate future. I do think that the government should be putting more into R&D, I just don’t think that the government should be giving money to business to do it but doing it themselves, patenting the results and then making those results available to all NZ businesses.
That’s easy – none. That’s why I like The Big Kahuna’sComprehensive Capital Tax – taxes based upon expected minimum returns on the capital (physical and financial) rather than declared income. That alone gets rid of a hell of a lot of tax dodging.
I heard the Minister for Revenue, Lord Peter Dunne of Ohariu, today on radio say that the figureswere for a different period blah blah and didn’t reflect blah.
Me thinks he is looking for donations from the wealthy.
Yeah sure the figures were for a different period and the identification of tax-fraud is bound to change dramatically after the ‘Hairdo from Ohariu’ has been around the country and sacked 500 of the Inland Revenue Workforce,
It could be said that as Ohariu is one of the more monied electorates in the country that Dunne is just bowing to those who elected Him to the Parliaments wishes that they pay less tax,
Dunne tho has certainly done their bidding on a country-wide basis with His little blitzkreig against Inland Revenue He has ripped the ‘local knowledge’ out of the capacity to collect revenue off of those who’s duty is to pay it,
There’s a whole class of people, funnily enough their mostly well monied, who have the luxury of being able to spend an inordinate amount of time, money, and, energy evading paying their due share to the taxman, the likes of those who write the speeches of the Leader of the Opposition dishing Him up ‘bash-a-Bene’ lines to publicly spray about the place may well be among them, (the debate inherent there is if He in particular can legitimately claim the title of Leader of the Opposition),
Tragically Dunne appears to be about to further tax the tax department by signing the Government up to significant ongoing and upwardly spiraling costs with an investment in yet another (s**t) computer system which will simply leave more and more of the collection of taxes,(if your not a wage worker),up to the personal honesty of those who are required to pay it and can’t you just see the belly aching laugh inherent within that last sentence,
Toughening up on tax inspections/audits plus prosecutions and penalties would seem to be the best means of educating those in the Provinces who seem to treat taxation as they do in Greece, a sporting event to be avoided at all cost, cleaning out the ability of provincial Inland Revenue offices to collect tax and identify evasion/avoidance will certainly lower the figures for identified malpractice from those who object to paying their share of taxes but that just gives those evading the payment of taxes a get out of jail free card,
And this is the other side, where a corporate aims to increase its profit margin by abusing and underpaying it’s workers; workers who are earning just the minimum wage, and no doubt struggling to survive on what they earn after an honest days work.
Some Burger King employees say they have been working for up to 10 years on the minimum wage without receiving any performance or service-related pay rises.
…
On April 1, when the minimum wage went up to $13.50 from $13, it is alleged many workers also lost a margin they were earning above the minimum wage. They were told they had to to earn back their right to that margin by completing “module” training. It is understood staff are being told they need to do the training in their own time.
The female worker said it could take months to complete all the modules and at the end of it there was no guarantee of the pay rise.
“You get the feeling the managers are all laughing at us,” she said.
Another worker said when the minimum wage went up he lost his extra entitlement of 25 cents on top of the previous minimum wage.
And when the union has tried to support such exploited workers, union members have been bullied and pressured to leave the union.
Unite national director Mike Treen said about 200 people had been compelled to quit the union over the past three months with members’ hours being changed or staff told they wouldn’t be promoted if they didn’t resign.
Thank you Carol. I too read both of these articles this morning and wanted to weep.
But what dismays me most of all is how so many New Zealanders have normalised this. There will be plenty who read both articles and part of them cheered on the rich for being smart enough to cheat on their taxes, while at the same time mentally sneering at people ‘dumb’ enough to flip burgers for the minimum wage.
Agreed, RL. And probably also some of those people will be at the front of the queue when it comes to bennie bashing. But that’s a result of the narrative that’s been foregrounded in the MSM and other popular media for a few decades.
However, it’s interesting that the debates on Labour’s direction on the Standard have been getting quite a bit of MSM attention (eg in the interview with Cunliffe on the Nation this morning). There was a time when the main political blog referred to by the MSM was the “sewer”…. there’s a change going on.
This indicates to me that the narrative is shifting. Just how and how much it is shifting remains to be seen.
Lots of middle class parents are starting to notice that there doesn’t seem to be much of a future for their kids out there in our current economy. Its hard to miss when your children in their late 20’s and early 30’s start asking you about moving back home to save money…
Go read pretty much any popular fiction and you’ll find that it’s been that way for a awhile. I realised that after reading a forward by either Anne McCaffrey or Mercedes Lackey (I can’t remember which but both actually seem to have the same political beliefs, they certainly use the same hierarchical political model in their books) where she expressed surprise to find that a lot of her readers though she was of the left. Once I read that I looked at the books I read with a different eye and realised that heroes are almost invariably rich or become rich through the actions of a rich person who supports them.
. I realised that after reading a forward by either Anne McCaffrey or Mercedes Lackey (I can’t remember which but both actually seem to have the same political beliefs, they certainly use the same hierarchical political model in their books
I knew there was a good reason why I can’t tolerate their books (McCaffrey especially…)
Burger King gets away with this because there are no jobs in NZ.
Not one single political party is spelling out where 200,000 jobs are going to come from.
Why – because they don’t know or they don’t want to know, or they know that these jobs will never happen.
I am waiting to hear from all political parties where the new jobs will be.
And I don’t want them to waffle on about it, I am looking for hard and fast statements.
Will such statements come? Yeah Right!
The Greens have plans that would create tens of thousands of jobs, although I’m not really sure how long term a lot of them would be (riparian planting and such).
There might be a reduction in employment after a few years from such an enterprise, but riparian planting would be largely ongoing because plantings need to be maintained. There are also many additional benefits that need to be considered. It will for instance help reduce pollution in waterways, which is beneficial to our fishing and tourism industries.
I think the long term sustainability of jobs in green growth areas is much better than plodding along with our throw away outsourced and low waged economy, and the evidence seems to agree:
Earlier this year, the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts released an info graphic to show the truth about job creation from various sectors.
On a per job basis, establishments in the clean economy export roughly twice the value of a typical U.S. job ($20,000 versus $10,000).
Median wages in the clean economy—meaning those in the middle of the distribution—are 13 percent higher than median U.S. wages.
Korea for instance will create around 1.6 million new jobs by investing 2% of its GDP into clean and green growth initiatives as part of its fiscal stimulus package. If they can do it, why can’t we? Initiating targets and procedures to reduce green house gas emissions has also been shown to create jobs.
Much of our ability to capitalize on green growth is dependent on international perception of how pure we actually are. That’s another area where National’s policy to increased environmentally destructive enterprises is economically detrimental for New Zealand.
The cost of a 5% drop in reputation and consequent drop in demand for primary products and international tourism was reported (PDF) by the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development to cost the economy more than 22,000 jobs, which is an annual direct loss of $455 million in primary product sales and a $155 million loss in international tourism.
Nobody wants to travel to a country where the view is spoilt by oil rigs for instance or god forbid oil spills all over our profitable beaches. With tourism generating $20 billion and 1 in 10 jobs in New Zealand, gambling with an already established driver of the economy is in my opinion pretty damn stupid.
The continued economic downturn that New Zealand has experienced to a greater degree than many other countries around the world could in part be due to National damaging to our 100% pure branding. John Keys Hard Talk PR disaster for instance would have cost us millions in lost tourism revenue.
What we need to do is stop subsidizing polluting industries and use that money to subsidize clean and green initiatives. This would create jobs and stimulate the economy in many beneficial ways. It would also ensure New Zealand is doing its part to reduce the negative effects of climate change, which will in turn be far more costly than any benefit from continuing with the same old agenda.
Again Cunliffe handled that superbly despite some pretty curly questions being asked. A good interview… and it’s really hard to imagine Shearer performing anywhere near as well. And for as long as that remains the case the ‘leadership’ question will keep getting asked.
I may not agree with everything Cunliffe said (he was too positive about Shearer’s Heartland speech, for instance). But he’s walking a difficult tightrope within the Labour Party framework. And he came across as quite passionate, statesmanlike and inspiring.
Good on DC for hanging in there against those in labour who don’t give a toss about a fairer NZ and belong on the other side of the political spectrum, the mallarfia.
Wasn’t the “heartland” speech, that Cunliffe was eager to tell us there was nothing in with which he disagreed, the controversial ‘roof painter’ speech?
Ah, thank-you. I was influenced by the context with Cunliffe being asked about divisions in the Labor ranks, on TS, etc.
So Cunliffe was selective about the Shearer speech he supported, and sidestepped/avoided the problems with the grey power speech. Clever. But then, Cunliffe DOES look to be fitting within the (current) Labour Party parameters, and, while he’s acknowledging more of the current economic and social realities, he’s not going to do too much to scare the horses.
Thanks for clarifying that MS for those who mixed up the leader’s speeches.
Cunliffe was superb this morning. Another good interview, as always. He was measured in his responses, he knows what the country needs re economic development, he states it clearly, and gives examples. You sense his passion and vision for New Zealanders getting ahead. And Labour needs people like him who can tell it how it is, who can resonate with ordinary New Zealanders and at the same time be supportive of businesses and manufacturers. You want to listen to him. He is believeable. He is smart. He is loyal.
Cunliffe gave a least two very good performances this week. The one Parliament was excellent. The one on The Nation on TV3 was very very good too. The holiday/study tour was valuable in so so many ways!
And that’s it in a nutshell Molly. “You want to listen to him. He is believeable. He is smart. He is loyal.”
And you CANNOT say that about any other of the crowd that’s in Charge at the moment. Me. Until Labour have a complete clean out. Rotton Ducks included I will vote Green. At least I still like what they say.
At last, at last – Sir Andrew Tipping in his valedictory sitting as a judge of the Supreme Court (completing 26 years as a judge of the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court variously) has addressed the utterly hamfisted (my words) and wasteful attacks on the legal aid system by this government – see Stuff.co.nz today.
Some time ago I raised this very matter, particularly in relation to criminal legal aid, on The Standard. Your usually rational contributor “Ad” sneeringly came back with something to the effect – “…..let’s weep for all the lawyers then…..”.
I look forward to Ad’s reaction to Justice Tipping’s comments, having sufficiently informed him/herself, rather than ignorantly contributing to the anti-legal aid lawyer culture advisedly whipped up by Power/Bazley and others to smokescreen the effective gutting of legal aid.
Lynn, for the second time in two days this bug has occurred. I open pages from the comments list by using command click (this opens each pages in a new tab). Today, I’ve opened five comments and instead of the pages opening to the comment I’ve clicked on, all five pages have opened to a specific post. In this case it is ‘ODT on Electoral Finance Bill’. But each page URL shows a comment URL not the main post URL. Only the page loads at the top of the page, not the comment that the URL should go to.
That last issue – loading to the top of the page, not the comment itself, had been happening on and off recently. But it still loaded the right page. Over the weekend, it’s not even going to the right page. It does seem to resolve itself eventually though and go back to normal
edit: just seen that the ODT post is not new, but dates from December 12th, 2007
I have also experienced this intermittently for quite a long time, but usually find that the second click on the comment I was originally seeking comes up.
Not complaining though, as I have ended up reading some really interesting old posts – for example yesterday I ended up with this relevant one from August 2007 – Why does John Key want to sell Air New Zealand?
I will have a look at it. That has got to be a problem in the database index structure because I didn’t put cloudflare on until late in the evening… At least that is what I will look at first.
BTW: I’ve fixed the permalinks on comments. Dropped the page number. It was a pain with links on posts with comments getting “lost” when a new page started.
It is easy to be sidetracked by stats and dollars when thinking of Christchurch. The story of Elsie Locke brings home the powerlessness of those in the East of Christchurch: “However, since September the 4th 2010, anyone connected to Christchurch has had their lives changed forever. Due to two devastating earthquakes and all the smaller ones in between huge parts of Christchurch have been damaged beyond repair. The Avon Loop community was badly damaged, and this time the people have had no power or control over the fate of the community. No means to take part in the subsequent decisions made by the Government regarding the ongoing occupation of the Loop or what will become of the area in the future………” http://www.projectfreerange.com/heartbreak-despair-and-life-lessons-in-earthquake-town-discovering-we-dont-actually-have-absolute-rights-to-our-land-and-homes/
Bill Maher has an excellent article in he Huffington Post that resonate a bit of Paula Bennett, John Key, Hekia Parata and Bill English.
” Or as it’s known on Capitol Hill, supply-side economics. Remember that magic beans theory? That you actually bring in more revenue by bringing in less? Ronald Reagan believed it. But at least back in the ’80s it was new. The thing is, we tried it, and it doesn’t work. Yet, Paul Ryan, who every shit-for-brains pundit in America keeps telling us is a “serious” guy, still believes in the supply-side theory. All the Republicans do. They all believe in something that both science and history have shown to be pure fantasy. The symbol for their party shouldn’t be an elephant — it should be a unicorn.”
The influential conservatives in this country are now dedicated to nothing less than the ultimate delegitimization of the concept of a national self-government. Some of them are in it for the bucks; state governments are more easily bought and controlled. Some of them are in it out of pure ideology, and out of tired ideas that already have caused far too much historical mischief. Some of them are in it because, frankly, they don’t know any better. But the overriding goal of the modern conservative movement, which its adherents will make obvious no matter how truncated their convention is this week, has been to make something alien out of something that is essentially ours and, historically, the best vehicle through which to exercise our better selves, as a people and a country.
Remember that magic beans theory? That you actually bring in more revenue by bringing in less? Ronald Reagan believed it. But at least back in the ’80s it was new.
No it wasn’t. It was tried in the US just prior to the Great Depression. Amazingly enough, what that paper shows is actually the reverse of what it says it shows. If the people who were obviously not paying their taxes had paid them then the taxes paid would have been far higher than what was paid after the tax cuts. I also suspect that after WW1 the US government probably paid more attention to tax dodges.
Also interesting to note that the lower taxes resulted in exactly what we’ve just seen – a bubble in the financial sector and then a crash.
wow. TS has definitely changed for the better across recent time
i enjoy reading it more
keep cleaning out those Bertie germs
keep reaching forward
Rock On!
I heard Dunne Revenue Minister defending the wealthy as paying the correct tax it only appears that they’re not because of changing dates for tax reshuffling. Keep the comfortable ones on side LIBerace. And of course he doesn’t want any change to the MMP that has given him his Position of Importance.
We have till the 7th September to put final ideas forward. on MMP. There appears to be a concerted effort to drown out individual opinion by people going online with a form letter approach. Those who have an individual even slightly left position are needed to provide a balanced view! If you go into archives here there will be a piece with a link so easy peasy for you.
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Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
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Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
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These are the REAL bludgers that the Labour Party should be talking about in key speeches. They are the ones that get most financial benefit out of our state infrastructure, and the ones that hoard their wealth, using every trick in the book to increase it at the expense of those that really need it. Shame on them!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/7549236/Half-NZs-super-rich-dodge-tax
These tax dodgers are the people that know all the loopholes and speculative tricks, but have little sense of humanity, empathy for strugglers, or sense of responsibility to the well-being of others and society.
The article was also potentially misleading in suggesting that half of the uber wealthy actually pay their fair share of tax. Certainly if you are worth $50 million plus it is extraordinary that you would only have declared income of less than $70 thousand. But it does not measure the amount actually paid.
A quick back of the envelope calculation would suggest that someone with $50 million worth of assets getting a 2% return on most of it and then dividing this amount by two for their partner should be earning $450,000 per annum. I wonder how many of the uber wealthy are declaring this amount?
The framing also an attempt to take the focus away from the real issue, which is corporate welfare.
Concerning self with a couple of hundred people, is simply another attempt at class warfare, to distract from coporate welfare, which is one of the core issues which has wrecked NZ, and will further do so!
Yep, and reading NACTs innovation list I see a hell of a lot more corporate welfare in our immediate future. I do think that the government should be putting more into R&D, I just don’t think that the government should be giving money to business to do it but doing it themselves, patenting the results and then making those results available to all NZ businesses.
That’s easy – none. That’s why I like The Big Kahuna’s Comprehensive Capital Tax – taxes based upon expected minimum returns on the capital (physical and financial) rather than declared income. That alone gets rid of a hell of a lot of tax dodging.
I heard the Minister for Revenue, Lord Peter Dunne of Ohariu, today on radio say that the figureswere for a different period blah blah and didn’t reflect blah.
Me thinks he is looking for donations from the wealthy.
Yeah sure the figures were for a different period and the identification of tax-fraud is bound to change dramatically after the ‘Hairdo from Ohariu’ has been around the country and sacked 500 of the Inland Revenue Workforce,
It could be said that as Ohariu is one of the more monied electorates in the country that Dunne is just bowing to those who elected Him to the Parliaments wishes that they pay less tax,
Dunne tho has certainly done their bidding on a country-wide basis with His little blitzkreig against Inland Revenue He has ripped the ‘local knowledge’ out of the capacity to collect revenue off of those who’s duty is to pay it,
There’s a whole class of people, funnily enough their mostly well monied, who have the luxury of being able to spend an inordinate amount of time, money, and, energy evading paying their due share to the taxman, the likes of those who write the speeches of the Leader of the Opposition dishing Him up ‘bash-a-Bene’ lines to publicly spray about the place may well be among them, (the debate inherent there is if He in particular can legitimately claim the title of Leader of the Opposition),
Tragically Dunne appears to be about to further tax the tax department by signing the Government up to significant ongoing and upwardly spiraling costs with an investment in yet another (s**t) computer system which will simply leave more and more of the collection of taxes,(if your not a wage worker),up to the personal honesty of those who are required to pay it and can’t you just see the belly aching laugh inherent within that last sentence,
Toughening up on tax inspections/audits plus prosecutions and penalties would seem to be the best means of educating those in the Provinces who seem to treat taxation as they do in Greece, a sporting event to be avoided at all cost, cleaning out the ability of provincial Inland Revenue offices to collect tax and identify evasion/avoidance will certainly lower the figures for identified malpractice from those who object to paying their share of taxes but that just gives those evading the payment of taxes a get out of jail free card,
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland…/final-day-for-16-inland-revenue-staff
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/…/seven-staff-laid-off-at-inland-revenue
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday…/ird-cuts-short-sighted-greens-warn
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/…/economys-7-billion-black-hole
And this is the other side, where a corporate aims to increase its profit margin by abusing and underpaying it’s workers; workers who are earning just the minimum wage, and no doubt struggling to survive on what they earn after an honest days work.
Good on Unite for making this public:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7549274/BK-takes-grilling-from-long-term-workers
And when the union has tried to support such exploited workers, union members have been bullied and pressured to leave the union.
Thank you Carol. I too read both of these articles this morning and wanted to weep.
But what dismays me most of all is how so many New Zealanders have normalised this. There will be plenty who read both articles and part of them cheered on the rich for being smart enough to cheat on their taxes, while at the same time mentally sneering at people ‘dumb’ enough to flip burgers for the minimum wage.
Agreed, RL. And probably also some of those people will be at the front of the queue when it comes to bennie bashing. But that’s a result of the narrative that’s been foregrounded in the MSM and other popular media for a few decades.
However, it’s interesting that the debates on Labour’s direction on the Standard have been getting quite a bit of MSM attention (eg in the interview with Cunliffe on the Nation this morning). There was a time when the main political blog referred to by the MSM was the “sewer”…. there’s a change going on.
This indicates to me that the narrative is shifting. Just how and how much it is shifting remains to be seen.
Lots of middle class parents are starting to notice that there doesn’t seem to be much of a future for their kids out there in our current economy. Its hard to miss when your children in their late 20’s and early 30’s start asking you about moving back home to save money…
These days the workhouse master would be the hero and Oliver Twist the villain.
Go read pretty much any popular fiction and you’ll find that it’s been that way for a awhile. I realised that after reading a forward by either Anne McCaffrey or Mercedes Lackey (I can’t remember which but both actually seem to have the same political beliefs, they certainly use the same hierarchical political model in their books) where she expressed surprise to find that a lot of her readers though she was of the left. Once I read that I looked at the books I read with a different eye and realised that heroes are almost invariably rich or become rich through the actions of a rich person who supports them.
I knew there was a good reason why I can’t tolerate their books (McCaffrey especially…)
Burger King gets away with this because there are no jobs in NZ.
Not one single political party is spelling out where 200,000 jobs are going to come from.
Why – because they don’t know or they don’t want to know, or they know that these jobs will never happen.
I am waiting to hear from all political parties where the new jobs will be.
And I don’t want them to waffle on about it, I am looking for hard and fast statements.
Will such statements come? Yeah Right!
The Greens have plans that would create tens of thousands of jobs, although I’m not really sure how long term a lot of them would be (riparian planting and such).
There might be a reduction in employment after a few years from such an enterprise, but riparian planting would be largely ongoing because plantings need to be maintained. There are also many additional benefits that need to be considered. It will for instance help reduce pollution in waterways, which is beneficial to our fishing and tourism industries.
I think the long term sustainability of jobs in green growth areas is much better than plodding along with our throw away outsourced and low waged economy, and the evidence seems to agree:
Earlier this year, the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts released an info graphic to show the truth about job creation from various sectors.
A 2011 Brookings report also noted that:
Korea for instance will create around 1.6 million new jobs by investing 2% of its GDP into clean and green growth initiatives as part of its fiscal stimulus package. If they can do it, why can’t we? Initiating targets and procedures to reduce green house gas emissions has also been shown to create jobs.
Much of our ability to capitalize on green growth is dependent on international perception of how pure we actually are. That’s another area where National’s policy to increased environmentally destructive enterprises is economically detrimental for New Zealand.
The cost of a 5% drop in reputation and consequent drop in demand for primary products and international tourism was reported (PDF) by the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development to cost the economy more than 22,000 jobs, which is an annual direct loss of $455 million in primary product sales and a $155 million loss in international tourism.
Nobody wants to travel to a country where the view is spoilt by oil rigs for instance or god forbid oil spills all over our profitable beaches. With tourism generating $20 billion and 1 in 10 jobs in New Zealand, gambling with an already established driver of the economy is in my opinion pretty damn stupid.
The continued economic downturn that New Zealand has experienced to a greater degree than many other countries around the world could in part be due to National damaging to our 100% pure branding. John Keys Hard Talk PR disaster for instance would have cost us millions in lost tourism revenue.
What we need to do is stop subsidizing polluting industries and use that money to subsidize clean and green initiatives. This would create jobs and stimulate the economy in many beneficial ways. It would also ensure New Zealand is doing its part to reduce the negative effects of climate change, which will in turn be far more costly than any benefit from continuing with the same old agenda.
David Cunliffe is on the Nation this morning at 8 am …
Again Cunliffe handled that superbly despite some pretty curly questions being asked. A good interview… and it’s really hard to imagine Shearer performing anywhere near as well. And for as long as that remains the case the ‘leadership’ question will keep getting asked.
Which is unfortunate for both men really.
I may not agree with everything Cunliffe said (he was too positive about Shearer’s Heartland speech, for instance). But he’s walking a difficult tightrope within the Labour Party framework. And he came across as quite passionate, statesmanlike and inspiring.
Good on DC for hanging in there against those in labour who don’t give a toss about a fairer NZ and belong on the other side of the political spectrum, the mallarfia.
Wasn’t the “heartland” speech, that Cunliffe was eager to tell us there was nothing in with which he disagreed, the controversial ‘roof painter’ speech?
The roof painter reference was in a speech to Grey Power in Auckland, a few days before his heartland tour and speeches.
Here is the Grey Power speech
http://www.labour.org.nz/news/speech-auckland-grey-power
Thanks for clarifying Deuto.
Ah, thank-you. I was influenced by the context with Cunliffe being asked about divisions in the Labor ranks, on TS, etc.
So Cunliffe was selective about the Shearer speech he supported, and sidestepped/avoided the problems with the grey power speech. Clever. But then, Cunliffe DOES look to be fitting within the (current) Labour Party parameters, and, while he’s acknowledging more of the current economic and social realities, he’s not going to do too much to scare the horses.
Yes it was. Did Cunliffe say that specifically? That there was nothing in the speech he disagreed with?
He said that he had reread the speech and there was nothing that he disagreed with. The speech does not refer to sickness beneficiaries.
Thanks for clarifying that MS for those who mixed up the leader’s speeches.
Cunliffe was superb this morning. Another good interview, as always. He was measured in his responses, he knows what the country needs re economic development, he states it clearly, and gives examples. You sense his passion and vision for New Zealanders getting ahead. And Labour needs people like him who can tell it how it is, who can resonate with ordinary New Zealanders and at the same time be supportive of businesses and manufacturers. You want to listen to him. He is believeable. He is smart. He is loyal.
No he doesn’t. He knows what capitalism needs and like most economists and politicians, seemingly has NFI WTF the country needs.
Cunliffe has a better overview of resource depletion than most, DTB.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/08/cunliffe-has-eyes-on-prize/
Cunliffe gave a least two very good performances this week. The one Parliament was excellent. The one on The Nation on TV3 was very very good too. The holiday/study tour was valuable in so so many ways!
And that’s it in a nutshell Molly. “You want to listen to him. He is believeable. He is smart. He is loyal.”
And you CANNOT say that about any other of the crowd that’s in Charge at the moment. Me. Until Labour have a complete clean out. Rotton Ducks included I will vote Green. At least I still like what they say.
At last, at last – Sir Andrew Tipping in his valedictory sitting as a judge of the Supreme Court (completing 26 years as a judge of the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court variously) has addressed the utterly hamfisted (my words) and wasteful attacks on the legal aid system by this government – see Stuff.co.nz today.
Some time ago I raised this very matter, particularly in relation to criminal legal aid, on The Standard. Your usually rational contributor “Ad” sneeringly came back with something to the effect – “…..let’s weep for all the lawyers then…..”.
I look forward to Ad’s reaction to Justice Tipping’s comments, having sufficiently informed him/herself, rather than ignorantly contributing to the anti-legal aid lawyer culture advisedly whipped up by Power/Bazley and others to smokescreen the effective gutting of legal aid.
Lynn, for the second time in two days this bug has occurred. I open pages from the comments list by using command click (this opens each pages in a new tab). Today, I’ve opened five comments and instead of the pages opening to the comment I’ve clicked on, all five pages have opened to a specific post. In this case it is ‘ODT on Electoral Finance Bill’. But each page URL shows a comment URL not the main post URL. Only the page loads at the top of the page, not the comment that the URL should go to.
That last issue – loading to the top of the page, not the comment itself, had been happening on and off recently. But it still loaded the right page. Over the weekend, it’s not even going to the right page. It does seem to resolve itself eventually though and go back to normal
edit: just seen that the ODT post is not new, but dates from December 12th, 2007
I too have come across this bug a few times in the past month or so.
I have also experienced this intermittently for quite a long time, but usually find that the second click on the comment I was originally seeking comes up.
Not complaining though, as I have ended up reading some really interesting old posts – for example yesterday I ended up with this relevant one from August 2007 – Why does John Key want to sell Air New Zealand?
http://thestandard.org.nz/why-does-key-want-to-sell-air-nz/
I will have a look at it. That has got to be a problem in the database index structure because I didn’t put cloudflare on until late in the evening… At least that is what I will look at first.
BTW: I’ve fixed the permalinks on comments. Dropped the page number. It was a pain with links on posts with comments getting “lost” when a new page started.
It is easy to be sidetracked by stats and dollars when thinking of Christchurch. The story of Elsie Locke brings home the powerlessness of those in the East of Christchurch:
“However, since September the 4th 2010, anyone connected to Christchurch has had their lives changed forever. Due to two devastating earthquakes and all the smaller ones in between huge parts of Christchurch have been damaged beyond repair. The Avon Loop community was badly damaged, and this time the people have had no power or control over the fate of the community. No means to take part in the subsequent decisions made by the Government regarding the ongoing occupation of the Loop or what will become of the area in the future………”
http://www.projectfreerange.com/heartbreak-despair-and-life-lessons-in-earthquake-town-discovering-we-dont-actually-have-absolute-rights-to-our-land-and-homes/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/todd-akin-republicans_b_1826617.html
Bill Maher has an excellent article in he Huffington Post that resonate a bit of Paula Bennett, John Key, Hekia Parata and Bill English.
” Or as it’s known on Capitol Hill, supply-side economics. Remember that magic beans theory? That you actually bring in more revenue by bringing in less? Ronald Reagan believed it. But at least back in the ’80s it was new. The thing is, we tried it, and it doesn’t work. Yet, Paul Ryan, who every shit-for-brains pundit in America keeps telling us is a “serious” guy, still believes in the supply-side theory. All the Republicans do. They all believe in something that both science and history have shown to be pure fantasy. The symbol for their party shouldn’t be an elephant — it should be a unicorn.”
A great read.
Sort of sums things up Bill.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/hurricane-isaac-2012-12058876
The influential conservatives in this country are now dedicated to nothing less than the ultimate delegitimization of the concept of a national self-government. Some of them are in it for the bucks; state governments are more easily bought and controlled. Some of them are in it out of pure ideology, and out of tired ideas that already have caused far too much historical mischief. Some of them are in it because, frankly, they don’t know any better. But the overriding goal of the modern conservative movement, which its adherents will make obvious no matter how truncated their convention is this week, has been to make something alien out of something that is essentially ours and, historically, the best vehicle through which to exercise our better selves, as a people and a country.
No it wasn’t. It was tried in the US just prior to the Great Depression. Amazingly enough, what that paper shows is actually the reverse of what it says it shows. If the people who were obviously not paying their taxes had paid them then the taxes paid would have been far higher than what was paid after the tax cuts. I also suspect that after WW1 the US government probably paid more attention to tax dodges.
Also interesting to note that the lower taxes resulted in exactly what we’ve just seen – a bubble in the financial sector and then a crash.
In fact you can see high tax rates on high incomes as a perfectly sensible mechanism for preventing fiscal bubbles.
Just a warning. This evening I will be looking at fixing the cloudflare issues from this week. There may be some odd effects.
Sort of auroras you mean?
🙂
Probably just the aura of Aussie. Tuns out that th most common cloudflare server we use is in Sydney.
wow. TS has definitely changed for the better across recent time
i enjoy reading it more
keep cleaning out those Bertie germs
keep reaching forward
Rock On!
(RL: interesting points made)
And, now for The Newz
S-B film-maker “kicks hornets nest”
Asset sell-off DEFER
deference helpful
I heard Dunne Revenue Minister defending the wealthy as paying the correct tax it only appears that they’re not because of changing dates for tax reshuffling. Keep the comfortable ones on side LIBerace. And of course he doesn’t want any change to the MMP that has given him his Position of Importance.
We have till the 7th September to put final ideas forward. on MMP. There appears to be a concerted effort to drown out individual opinion by people going online with a form letter approach. Those who have an individual even slightly left position are needed to provide a balanced view! If you go into archives here there will be a piece with a link so easy peasy for you.
National is proving to be as much a sham as Milan Brych!
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/worrying-similarities-between-milan.html