tax

Categories under tax

capital gains (104)
gst (55)

Nice to have

Written By: Tammy Gordon - Date published: 10:21 am, April 7th, 2011 - 25 comments

The PSA is the frontline in our fight against National’s plans to savagely cut our public services. Much in the same vein as the sticker campaign that Eddie posted on yesterday, the PSA has used humour to get across an incisive message: what the rich elitists in National consider ‘nice to have’ is very different from what we value.

Plurality support quake levy

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:29 am, April 4th, 2011 - 4 comments

A UMR poll shows that 40% of Kiwis support paying an earthquake levy to help pay for the Christchurch rebuild. 22% prefer more borrowing, and 29% want spending cuts. Asked just whether they supported or opposed a levy – 57% supported it. Yet the Nats are choosing cuts instead.

Choices, choices

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:32 am, April 1st, 2011 - 21 comments

In the last Budget, National cut the corporate tax rate to 28%, which costs $400 million a year and comes into effect today. It also cut $200 million a year from early childhood education and tertiary funding in the same Budget, while borrowing billions. When the government cuts public services it is because it chooses […]

Spending up large

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 11:25 am, March 24th, 2011 - 24 comments

So what are you gonna do with the 9K of tax cuts you got with your 400K pa job since October? Why not pay 7K to shack up with 65 of the elite and eat a 6 course meal from foreign chefs?… What do you mean you’re not on 400K, you haven’t pocketed 9K in the last 5 months, and price rises ate your ‘tax cut’? You need a real job.

‘Crisis’ but tax cuts for the rich keep coming

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:00 am, March 23rd, 2011 - 43 comments

The Nats want us to believe there is no other option than massive cuts to government spending. Roughly, a third of the cuts covers the earthquake rebuilding, another third covers the Nats’ tax cuts for the rich, and the last third covers the revenue loss from this neverending recession. So, how come the Nats can afford another round of tax cuts for the rich?

Armstrong on Key’s thinking

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:07 pm, March 22nd, 2011 - 30 comments

John Armstrong’s contacts in National are telling him that Working for Families and student loans are the targets for cuts in this year’s budget. He also reveals the real reason for National opposing the widely-supported earthquake levy: putting on a tax would be an admission that tax cuts for the rich were a mistake in the first place.

Universal Income Revisited

Written By: RedLogix - Date published: 11:44 pm, February 28th, 2011 - 96 comments

The tax system we currently have is a relic of the pre-IT age. In the days of manual clerk-handled accounts, it was impractical to reconcile tax accounts more than once a year. The introduction of PAYE in 1958 was welcomed as it eliminated the need for ordinary people to find the cash for a large […]

Rebuilding choices reveal govt priorities

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:32 pm, February 28th, 2011 - 93 comments

Unless a leader is horribly neglectful in the wake of a disaster, like Bush after Katrina, I don’t think there is any grounds to criticise them for the immediate disaster response, which is largely out of their hands anyway. But the policy response that follows is a legitimate topic for political debate. And I’m worried about Key’s.

Tax policy for economic stimulus and growth

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 12:00 pm, February 26th, 2011 - 79 comments

Last week, Treasury issued a press statement saying it had commissioned research on the impact of governments’ fiscal stimulus packages, now published in the influential publication the Economic Journal. One article, “Tax policy for economic stimulus and growth”, had this to say:

Key: out of touch on tax cuts

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:45 am, February 10th, 2011 - 65 comments

Key proved he’s bereft of ideas in his speech on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he showed he’s out of touch. As you know, Key has voted himself $23,000 of tax cuts on his PM salary alone. Labour estimates another $24,000 on his investments – over $1000 a week. Key argues his tax cut is ‘only’ $15,000.

Cuts to our public services to pay for elite’s tax cuts

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:54 pm, February 8th, 2011 - 69 comments

John Key’s government is just two years old but it is already clearly bereft of ideas. His lacklustre speech showed no innovative thinking. There was just his usual bile directed at Labour and the same old failed National formula: asset sales, welfare cuts, and public service cuts masked by restructuring to fund tax cuts for the rich elite.

Hickey on the tax bludgers

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:00 am, February 6th, 2011 - 62 comments

Bernard Hickey looks at the tax bludgers. Labour’s plans to introduce a higher new top tax rate would raise needed tax from those who can most afford it. But it would also foster more tax bludging by the rich. Rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater by abolishing the top rate, we need to eliminate the avenues for bludging.

Selling assets to pay for tax cuts for richest 1%

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 7:50 am, January 28th, 2011 - 171 comments

John Key, very optimistically, reckons he can raise $10 billion by selling our assets. Key’s Government gave massive tax cuts, averaging $16,000 each, to the richest 1% of taxpayers that they’ll get year after year. The present value of those tax cuts for the richest 1% is over $10 billion. He’s selling our assets to pay for tax cuts for the richest 1%.

States of the nation

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:40 am, January 26th, 2011 - 29 comments

It’s not radical, it’s not revolutionary but Phil Goff has laid out a positive, progressive, and affordable vision that contrasts with John Key’s directionless, lazy leadership. It seems to be popular. The PM’s state of the nation is expected to contain an interesting savings policy but always the question is: cue bono?

Phil Goff’s State of the Nation

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 3:22 pm, January 25th, 2011 - 203 comments

Phil Goff has just delivered an excellent speech to start a year of laying out Labour Policy. $100/week tax free, stopping tax-dodging bludgers, support for R&D and exporters, correcting housing market anomalies and encouraging investment in the productive sector. There was a lot to like.

National cause of dire economy

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 2:20 pm, December 21st, 2010 - 13 comments

National still seem to be getting a lot of cover for their economic mismanagement from the Global Financial Crisis way back in 2007-2008. But New Zealand’s failure to be “roaring out of recession”, as John Key promised, is no longer tied to the GFC. It’s Bill English and National’s economic policies that mean that the government deficit is pushing the limits with no reward for average kiwis.

The new economy: Govt as an economic actor

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:00 am, December 17th, 2010 - 42 comments

Three government investment decisions in the last couple of weeks have shown the deficiencies in the neoliberal way of doing things. SOE Solid Energy’s lignite-to-liquids obsession, Kiwirail buying trains in China rather than making them itself and Steven Joyce decision to re-create Telecom’s monopoly by giving it 70-84% of the broadband contracts.

Government Spending Ideology

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 7:45 am, December 16th, 2010 - 29 comments

The Right always advocates for less government spending as a percentage of GDP. Those with ideological blinkers cannot see the high correlation between being a free and stable country and paying for it. The most successful nations are willing to invest in quality public services. Government spending is low in poor, unequal, and unstable countries.

Tax cuts busted

Written By: r0b - Date published: 7:13 am, December 16th, 2010 - 67 comments

Tax cuts don’t cause growth, and even some of the right wing commentators are starting to admit it. The Nats’ tax cuts aren’t “broadly neutral” either, and that is why the deficit is blowing out. National’s one and only economic policy is busted. Now what?

Starve the beast

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:39 pm, December 14th, 2010 - 50 comments

Let’s face it. A government doesn’t accidentally spend $15 billion more than its revenue while cutting billions in taxes. The unsustainably high deficit is intentional policy, not happenstance. In good times and bad, National’s answer is always to cut taxes. The objective is to make huge deficits that then need to be ‘fixed’ with spending cuts.

Key out of touch on taxes

Written By: r0b - Date published: 9:30 am, December 14th, 2010 - 37 comments

Do you feel better off after the great tax swindle? Two recent surveys have shown that the significant majority of us do not. John Key has expressed his surprise at our ingratitude. But the numbers tell the story. Most of us don’t feel better off because we aren’t better off. The only surprise is that John Key is so completely out of touch as to fail to understand this.

Tax cuts for rich at heart of debt problem

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 6:19 am, December 14th, 2010 - 52 comments

Two years ago we had one of the best government balance sheets in the world. Key said we didn’t have a debt problem. Two years of him as PM, and we sure have one now. When we learn exactly how dire things are later today, remember that National brought this on us by borrowing $3 billion a year for tax cuts that no-one noticed.

The new economy: tax & redistribution

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:13 am, December 7th, 2010 - 135 comments

The other week we talked about what a new economic order should look like, following the neoliberal experiment’s resoundingly failure. Sustainability and fairness need to be at the heart of the system. Government acts on the economy through law, taxation and income redistribution, and as market player. Let’s start with tax and redistribution.

S&P downgrades defenceless, exposed NZ

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:41 am, November 23rd, 2010 - 69 comments

Standard and Poor’s shock move to downgrade our credit rating caused markets to plunge late yesterday. Bill English’s reaction, predictably, is to pretend nothing is wrong. John Key says it’s about debt, even as he borrows for tax cuts. But let’s look at what S&P says is wrong with us:

Kiwis feel worse off after Nat tax swindle

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:43 am, November 22nd, 2010 - 23 comments

A new Horizon poll shows that the vast majority of Kiwis at all incomes level, but especially low-income families, feel worse off after the Nats’ October 1 tax swindle. John Key claimed the vast bulk of us would be better off but clearly we aren’t; shuffling money around and giving more to the rich leaves the rest of us with less.

The other great tax lie

Written By: r0b - Date published: 8:47 am, November 10th, 2010 - 11 comments

The Budget 2010 tax cuts for the rich were supposed to be paid for by magical extra growth. But the growth isn’t happening and the government now has a $2.2 billion shortfall in income. So the tax cuts aren’t “broadly neutral” at all. We’re paying for them with borrowing. Is that “Ambitious for New Zealand”?

Q&A on The Hobbit

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:30 am, October 28th, 2010 - 84 comments

The Right argues that an already settled labour dispute involving a small union somehow scared a multi-billion film company enough to make them consider abandoning the $100 million already invested in NZ. Blue has gone beyond the slogans and done some excellent research to answers our questions on what really happened.

Caption Contest

Written By: the sprout - Date published: 7:39 am, October 28th, 2010 - 25 comments

There was some expenditure that didn’t qualify under the old scheme…We’ve looked to broaden that out. John Key on Warner Brothers, 27 Oct 2010

Lord of the tax breaks: A history of capital flight threats

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 7:53 am, October 27th, 2010 - 90 comments

The Hobbit ‘crisis’ is just the latest in a series of capital flight threats from Jackson and Hollywood. We’ll end up paying more to stave off the threat of capital flight because the wider economic benefit makes it worthwhile. Key is trying to talk down how much we can pay but he bears responsibility for talking up the ‘crisis’ to put the boot into unions.

Bending over for Warner Brothers

Written By: the sprout - Date published: 11:30 am, October 26th, 2010 - 30 comments

Otago Law Professor Paul Roth says possible law changes by the Key Government to provide more tax-payer funded charity to corporate giants Warner Bros Entertainment is ‘Third-World’ lawmaking and a ‘race to the bottom’ in an attempt to compete against developing nations with little or no labour rights. Roth says if we ‘lie back and prostitute ourselves […]

Key the real target of Hobbit producers’ game

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 2:01 pm, October 24th, 2010 - 75 comments

The Hobbit ‘crisis’ is all about money. It’s about the producers of this long-troubled production, who are in financial difficulty, wanting to minimise their up-front costs. The mark in the con is the only one with cash to offer on the scale they need – the Prime Minister. He’s the one with the most to lose and the most ability to pay.