tax

Categories under tax

Sacred cows

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, December 20th, 2012 - 38 comments

An anonymous editorial in The Herald yesterday suggested that the government raise revenue by cutting the “sacred cow” of interest free student loans.  For some strange reason the sacred cow of National’s tax cut bribe for the rich was not similarly offered up for sacrifice.  I wonder why that might be.

Turei: Green Party retrospective

Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, December 19th, 2012 - 44 comments

Green Party co-leader, Metiria Turei, was confident and clear on TV3, talking about their consistent, disciplined & successful year &: the RONS tax, MP pay rise, government’s poor record, the economy, printing money, jobs, equality issues and child poverty.  Little on green issues. Zero on the climate.  [Update] Turei RNZ interviews.

Sunday Reading

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, December 9th, 2012 - 3 comments

My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere. This week: Tax-shaming and the real shirkers, climate change, disability month and happiness.

NRT: Taking on our local tax cheats

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, November 30th, 2012 - 26 comments

I/S at No Right Turn asks why the government is letting rich multinational companies get away with exploiting tax loopholes.  Here’s an idea – close the loopholes and spend the revenue on schools.

Sunday Reading

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, November 25th, 2012 - 14 comments

My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere. This week: politicians, economies, elections, feminism and climate change.

Changing Labour: significant issues

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, November 18th, 2012 - 4 comments

These are exciting days as the Labour Party becomes more democratic.  In their reports on the Conference, the MSM are failing to focus on the important issues: ones requiring a new direction from the Left, such as damaging white collar fraud and the urgent need for affordable housing.

Tax fraud, benefit fraud, proportional response

Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, October 22nd, 2012 - 38 comments

A Victoria University study shows that tax evasion is costing the country at least 25 times what welfare fraud is costing, while welfare fraud is punished more harshly in court.

Govt defends tax haven

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, October 8th, 2012 - 31 comments

So, it turns out that our ‘foreign trusts’ regime is being exploited so that billionaires from developing countries can avoid tax in their countries. We’re a tax haven. And the Government sees nothing wrong with that. It’s legal, so it’s OK. Yes, we’re helping a foreign elite avoid paying their fair share and rip off poor people, but hey, this is a National Government – that sounds like paradise to them.

Sunday Reading

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, September 23rd, 2012 - 11 comments

My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. This week: taxes and growth, foreign wars and the quality of MPs.  And the Ig Nobels.

Half of rich still cheating on tax

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, August 27th, 2012 - 75 comments

Remember how National’s excuse for cutting the top tax rate from 39% to align with the trust rate at 33% was that half of the rich were dodging the top tax rate – so, they should all get a tax cut. Tax cuts for tax cheats, it was called. And guess what? They’re still cheating. Only half of the ultra-rich are paying even that slashed 33% rate. When they cheat we pay with cut services, higher charges, and more government debt.

Hands on Labour

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 pm, August 16th, 2012 - 32 comments

Fresh ideas to grow a stronger manufacturing sector, on top of the major changes Labour has already signalled featured in a speech given today by David Parker to a union audience in Wellington. David Cunliffe was there too,  and I particularly liked the  discussion afterwards. The key players are receptive to good ideas and it looks like Labour will have a real alternative to offer at the next election.

Sunday Reading

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, July 29th, 2012 - 1 comment

My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere (no linkwhoring).  This week: hiding tax, growing up neo-liberal and Syria.

Taxing the super-rich

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, June 18th, 2012 - 21 comments

The Nats like bang on about benefit fraud, are they just as keen to go after tax evasion by the super-rich?

The tax-cheating elite

Written By: - Date published: 1:39 pm, June 16th, 2012 - 137 comments

For 10 years, the IRD has been investigating the tax dealings of the country’s 250 richest people and their 7,500 companies and trusts. It turns out they had underpaid $500m of tax with hundreds of millions more in dispute. If you and I went into a government office and stole $10,000 of stuff, we would go to jail. But ripping us off for $500m was all just a mistake, apparently.

National: looking after those in need

Written By: - Date published: 10:51 am, June 11th, 2012 - 22 comments

When Righties say we can’t afford to support solo mums, what do they think we can afford instead?

CGT Now!

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, June 5th, 2012 - 32 comments

The “tradeable” sector is still shrinking. The property market is heating up again. We need a capital gains tax now.

Stealth taxes

Written By: - Date published: 4:34 pm, May 23rd, 2012 - 8 comments

Bill English has introduced a number of stealth taxes over his time in office, to partly balance the loss his tax cuts for the rich has generated. The latest in this budget will be prescription costs and raising the price of Early Childhood Education (again).  We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out if […]

$2 billion borrowed for tax cuts, so far

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, May 14th, 2012 - 11 comments

Remember National’s ‘fiscally neutral’ tax cuts? Turns out they’ve cost $2 billion in their first 18 months. Now, the Right’s story changes, of course. Without those reckless tax cuts, we wouldn’t be facing zero budgets.  They were never meant to be fiscally neutral, they were stimulus spending – right, cause this economy is so stimulated.

Austerity = low tax take “surprise”

Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, May 9th, 2012 - 37 comments

The government has a $1.8 billion income shortfall. But it’s alright, it’s not their fault… Their policies don’t affect the economy. Unless they need to take credit. 6.7% unemployment? Nothing to do with us, and nothing to do with our tax shortfall…

House Price Inflation

Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, May 6th, 2012 - 59 comments

Land prices rising much faster than wages. Shares, derivatives, hedge funds or other financial instruments are designed so that banks can gamble with our money. Win or lose they always get a cut. Loss comes out of our pensions and other savings. Or, if they really stuff it up, taxpayers are expected to borrow more from them to pay for it. Banks following their own self interest and are compounding economies to oblivion. The “invisible hand” has failed..

Failed to achieve

Written By: - Date published: 6:33 am, April 26th, 2012 - 17 comments

Tax increases on working people: GST hike, replaced Labour’s cuts with cuts for the rich, put tax on your employer Kiwisaver contributions, cut WfF tax credits. Record emigration to Australia: 53,237 last year, 1000+ per week.

Nats need better excuses on billion dollar tax cut borrowing

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, April 11th, 2012 - 12 comments

As the Nats try to spin us into accepting another zero budget, focus is turning to 2 big holes that their policy decisions have created. First, the $1b+ a year spend on the low to negative value Roads of National (Party) Significance. Second, the $1b+ annual cost of the 2010 tax changes. That’s $2b+ that could be spent elsewhere, avoiding spending cuts without more borrowing.

When ‘fiscally neutral’ costs a billion+ a year

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, April 5th, 2012 - 30 comments

On Monday, Key said his tax cuts have been “literally fiscally neutral”. In Parliament yesterday, Russel Norman showed Treasury documents showing the 2010 tax changes were to forecast to cost $1.1b in 4 years, actually cost $1.1b in 9 months, and the cost has grown since. Key didn’t want to hear the Treasury numbers, instead waving some ‘billshit’ put together by the Finance Minister.

The lie of the “fiscally neutral” tax cuts

Written By: - Date published: 3:50 pm, April 4th, 2012 - 46 comments

The “fiscally neutral” tax cuts never were neutral at all, and a lower than expected tax take is hitting the government’s books. But Key is still out there repeating the lie.

Best stick to the polling, Farrar

Written By: - Date published: 7:07 am, March 19th, 2012 - 103 comments

David Farrar has had a go at David Clark for supposedly blaming (or crediting, Farrar can’t make up his mind) National for the revenue loss resulting from Labour’s 2008 tax cuts after Clark said that National’s tax cuts have sucked 2.5% of GDP out of the Crown’s revenue, widening the deficit by $5b a year. Either Farrar can’t read or he’s desperately spinning.

Key’s laundry list of broken promises

Written By: - Date published: 10:58 pm, March 14th, 2012 - 57 comments

He must resign. Surely. Here is Key, speaking to the PSA in 2008, making very specific promises about public service jobs, tax cuts, and asset sales that helped him get elected. Promises he has since broken. There’s no excuse. He wasn’t blind-sided by events. He made these promises never intending to keep them. Key is refusing to comment but if the man has any ethics he’ll resign.

Every time they cut, remember the tax cuts

Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, March 7th, 2012 - 53 comments

Police numbers are going to be slashed. Diplomats too. And nurses. All up, 2,500 jobs gone so far for $20m saved. And it turns out more than half the government’s new doctors don’t exist. Big public sector strikes may be coming. Every time you read this stuff, remember National’s tax cuts for the rich. The $1.1b for ‘fiscally neutral’ tax cuts last round alone. That’s where the money went.

Tax-take bullshit

Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, January 2nd, 2012 - 104 comments

An earlier post by Mike Smith on inequality referred to a claim by Geoff Vincent that 12% of the taxpayers were paying 49% of the the taxes. Now this was patently a spinners interpolation on the tax data and shouldn’t be part of the debate.. A comment by DH has a look at that bullshit. […]

Trickle down

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, December 19th, 2011 - 44 comments

Key: “Of course, if we could have lower personal taxes, we think that would stimulate the economy – but we just can’t afford it”. But, if tax cuts stimulate the economy, you could make them self-funding. The 2010 tax changes were meant to pay for their net cost with extra growth. Didn’t happen. They’ve cost $1.1b so far. Does Key still buy this trickle down garbage or not?

The poor get richer?

Written By: - Date published: 9:33 pm, December 13th, 2011 - 81 comments

Phil O’Reilly’s article in today’s DomPost headed “The rich get richer but so do the poor ” is appalling.  Responding to the OECD report on inequality, he is following in the footsteps of Alasdair Thompson. BusinessNZ are still dinosaur employers  from the Victorian age.

The future is already not so bright

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, December 6th, 2011 - 33 comments

Tax take is down, deficit is up, growth forecasts for next year are down. Nice to be told all this one week after the election, eh? Still John and Bill are relaxed and optimistic that the future will still be bright.