tax

Categories under tax

Tax ‘swap’ needed to keep National MPs in NZ

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, May 20th, 2010 - 18 comments

Finance Minister Bill English today announced tax cuts worth $340,000 for National MPs on their Parliamentary salaries alone. “I’m very pleased we could announce this gift, ah, fair alteration of the tax system. There was a real danger that New Zealand could have lost the services of such valuable, highly-skilled workers as Paula Bennett, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Paul Quinn, and Melissa Lee

The courage of his convictions

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, May 20th, 2010 - 56 comments

Hone Harawira does not want to vote for the ‘don’t be jealous’ budget and he doesn’t think the Maori Party will be standing true to its principles or supporters if it does. Harawira sought permission to vote against the Budget. Tariana Turia, who is awfully comfortable in the back of her Crown limo, refused. Let’s hope Harawira has the courage cross the floor anyway.

Close the loophole by knocking down the wall

Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, May 20th, 2010 - 23 comments

Giving the rich a bucket of your money, is about keeping valuable people (who must be rich, by definition) in this country, or closing loopholes (by make the cheat automatic), or was it about boosting growth through trickle down (which is like helping a dehydrated man by giving water to someone with an already full bladder and hoping they piss on him)? Whatever, just don’t be jealous, OK?

Grateful poor to thank rich for trickle down wealth

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, May 19th, 2010 - 29 comments

It is befitting that the 27st of May – just one week after the Budget – marks Thank The Rich Day, which sees poor people the length of the country gearing up to offer their gratitude to the rich for their contribution to the welfare of the poor through making themselves richer. Thank The Rich Day is, in fact, the brainchild of grocery packer Joe Brown…

Excusing the ‘Don’t Be Jealous’ Budget

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, May 19th, 2010 - 15 comments

Tomorrow, National will give huge tax cuts to the wealthiest New Zealanders. $12,000 a year for a typical CEO or a Prime Minister on $350,000 a year. $290,000 a year for Paul Reynolds, the CEO of Telecom. The Right are trying a bunch of excuses for this unneeded gift to the richest people in the country, paid for by working Kiwis. Let’s debunk ’em.

Don’t be jealous, they’re better than you

Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, May 18th, 2010 - 185 comments

Key has finally admitted his tax cuts are for the rich.

But that’s okay, he says, because the rich are so much more important than us.

Who says tax swap boosts growth?

Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, May 17th, 2010 - 33 comments

There are several myths about the coming tax swap that have a surprising amount of currency. The biggest is that this tax swap will boost growth. It won’t and the Tax Working Group never said it would. What it will do is increase inequality with massive tax cuts for the elite funded by higher GST and rents for working Kiwis. That’s not by accident or inevitable – it’s by design.

Renters will pay for Nats’ tax cuts for the rich

Written By: - Date published: 11:11 pm, May 16th, 2010 - 71 comments

The tax changes that will soon be announced are characterised even by the Government as a ‘tax swap’. They are fiscally neutral. The tax burden will not fall. All that will change is who it will fall on. Most people end up neutral or slightly worse off from the GST and income tax changes. The rich get huge cuts, which renters will end up paying for. Who are the renters? The census tells us.

Next step on mining

Written By: - Date published: 6:45 am, May 11th, 2010 - 27 comments

It looks like National is about to cave in to public opinion and abandon its ridiculous plans to mine on New Zealand’s most precious land. Good. The economics never made any sense, let alone the environmental case. The Nats’ economic ‘plan’ looks even thinner now. Here’s something they can do – sort out the minerals royalty and leases on mining concessions.

What’s the Govt’s economic vision?

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, May 10th, 2010 - 6 comments

To build a brighter future for New Zealand we need to invest in it. We need to build up our national savings, invest in R&D, and build a sustainable, more self-sufficient economy. National has cut savings and R&D investment, and talked down New Zealand’s potential for hi-tech manufacture. Seems they’re only interested in short term pay offs for the rich.

Bold economic leadership… from the Opposition

Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, May 6th, 2010 - 61 comments

I’m glad to see Labour is stealing a march on the lazy Nats and building an alternative economic vision ahead of the Budget. It looks to be just the vision New Zealand needs, built on the twin planks of economic sovereignty and a fairer distribution of wealth.

Maori Party turns against beneficiaries

Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, April 30th, 2010 - 24 comments

The Nat/ACT/Maori Party government has seen 55,000 more people go on benefits. They want to work. There aren’t enough jobs. How to make life worse for families fallen on hard times? How about cut their benefits? Benefits are meant to go up with inflation. CPI. The tobacco hike puts up CPI. Government should put up […]

Fags bad, piss good

Written By: - Date published: 5:54 pm, April 29th, 2010 - 11 comments

Here’s a great interview by RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan with Professor Doug Sellman, Director of the National Addiction Centre, on Government’s bizarre inconsistency in raising the price of fags to discourage consumption while not raising the price of alcohol – despite its alleged interest in addressing alcohol abuse. Sellman also has some interesting things to say about […]

Tax hike but why no display ban?

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, April 29th, 2010 - 48 comments

I’m not against rising the excise on tobacco but everyone knows that if this government was serious about reducing the harm from tobacco this isn’t the best way to go about it. The best thing to do would be to ban tobacco displays. Upping the excise takes more money out of the pockets of the poor but it has only a minor effect on reducing smoking.

Goff: I’ll reverse unfair tax cuts for the rich

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 pm, April 24th, 2010 - 125 comments

Labour leader Phil Goff has come out swinging against National’s proposal to cut the top tax rate. It’s great to see Phil living up to his promise to stand up for the many, not the few. National’s plan to cut the top rate will only benefit the very wealthy, like John Key. Now we can stand assured, the 6th Labour Government will fix that injustice.

Weeding out low quality

Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, April 24th, 2010 - 58 comments

The Nats are looking to cut $1.8 billion in spending over four years. Where from? What and who will be deemed to be “low quality” in need of “weeding out”? The answers are going to tell us a lot about the National Party’s values…

Give that bludger a tax cut

Written By: - Date published: 12:24 pm, April 19th, 2010 - 102 comments

Patent lawyer John David Hardie is a bludger. You and me, we pay our taxes. We know we get public services and a decent society out of it. This rich prick is trying to get out of a $10.3 million tax bill. What to do with this rich bludger? How about give him a $1.25 million tax cut. That’s what that other rich layabout John Key is planning.

When did telling the truth become a mistake?

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, April 15th, 2010 - 71 comments

Phil Goff is being attacked by John Key’s apologists because he won’t pledge to reverse National’s GST hike given he can’t yet know the state of the government’s books when he becomes PM. How ironic to see the Right, who supposedly want accountable government, pillory a politician for being straight up with the public, rather than telling them what they want to hear.

Nats: economically illiterate

Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, April 15th, 2010 - 22 comments

How economically illiterate do the Nats have to be to send the government’s research vessel Tangaroa to Singapore for a $20 million refit when VT Fitzroy at Devonport was ready and willing to do the work here? Sure the bid was a bit lower but did they consider the tax the government would gain, the fewer unemployed and the other benefits from keeping the work here in New Zealand?

Take it out of my ‘tax cut’

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, April 9th, 2010 - 30 comments

So the govt wants to sue the Waihopai 3 for $1.1 mil. No pesky jury this time. The dudes only have a grand between them. Spending a couple of hundred thousand on lawyers’ fees to bankrupt some hippies. Doesn’t seem like the best use of taxpayer cash. Tell you what. If the govt really wants its $1.1 million they can take it out of our tax ‘cuts’. 25 cents each. That’ll be my tax cut pretty much gone.

Tax hikes fail to cause ‘brain’ drain in UK

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, April 8th, 2010 - 39 comments

George Monbiot writes: It’s a bitter blow. When the government proposed a windfall tax on bonuses and a 50p top rate of income tax, thousands of bankers and corporate executives promised to leave the country and move to Switzerland(1,2). Now we discover that the policy has failed: the number of financiers applying for a Swiss work permit fell by 7% last year.

Over-promise, under-deliver

Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, March 31st, 2010 - 7 comments

The Key Government is constantly promising us great results and actually do nothing that improves things for New Zealanders. English, Bennett, Brownlee, and Tolley are prime examples of this MO. While they promise great things and fail to deliver unemployment is rising, wages are falling, crime is up, and the government has no plan to move us forward.

I got it wrong: tax cuts for rich even bigger

Written By: - Date published: 12:09 am, March 22nd, 2010 - 100 comments

I made a mistake in my calculations of the effects of the leaked tax reforms. In the corrected numbers, the poor get less, the rich get more. The wealthiest 13,000 taxpayers get a quarter of a billion in tax cuts between them – nearly $20,000 a year each. The poorest half $1.25 a week and higher rents to pay. This ‘tax reform’ package is really a mask for a wealth grab from the many to the few.

Fabian seminar gets big tick

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, March 18th, 2010 - 19 comments

The first Fabian Society seminar in Auckland last weekend attracted a good crowd watch an participate as some of New Zealand’s top economic thinkers debated how to get the economy working for us. It has been judged a huge success. The next seminars will be in Wellington on Sunday 28 March and in Christchurch on 18 April.

Tenants already taking the hit

Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, March 18th, 2010 - 79 comments

I got a call from a friend today, thanks to National his rent is going up. I’ll call him Ned. He’s retired and rents a two bedroom home for $310 a week. He recently received a letter from his landlord advising him of a rent increase of $40 a week. He’s sure his landlord is […]

50 dollars and northwards

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, March 16th, 2010 - 14 comments

Felix can hardly contain himself at the prospect of National’s tax changes: Woohoo!! Told you my mate Mr Key would be able to deliver a “north of $50 a week” tax cut. And you all said he wouldn’t. So who’s looking stupid now eh? I mean sure, you need to bring in $180,000 a year to get it but just get off your arse and be a bit more ambitious whydontcha?

GST hike = tax cut for rich only

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 pm, March 14th, 2010 - 50 comments

The numbers of National’s tax money go round leaked to the SST. I have worked out who wins and who loses. Key claimed that no-one will be worse off and the bulk will be much better off but 10% are worse off and 80% get next to nothing (without even counting the rent hikes). The elite get $100 in net tax cuts for every $1 the typical Kiwi gets.

Tax cut bizzaro world

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, March 14th, 2010 - 16 comments

Under National’s proposed tax cuts and GST increases someone on the average wage of $48,000 comes out about $5 to $10 per week ahead. But 70% of Kiwis have incomes under $40,000. Their tax cuts will barely compensate them for the GST increase. How can National go on claiming that “the vast bulk of New Zealanders will be better off”?

Armstrong and class interest

Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, March 6th, 2010 - 28 comments

The poor don’t need tax cuts for the top 12% to to inspire them to want to get out of poverty. Poverty is inspiration enough. But thepoor cannot all become rich. To function capitalism needs poverty. There’s got to be lots of people doing the shitty, dangerous, hard jobs for cheap. And the wealth will always flow to the elite few who own capital or defend their interests.

Kick in guts for recesson victims

Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, March 3rd, 2010 - 10 comments

The recession has forced tens of thousands of people out of work. There are now 276,000 jobless Kiwis. The lucky ones (only a third of the officially unemployed) can get the unemployment benefit. Now, the Government is letting inflation eat into their meager benefit payments. Benefit payments are meant to be adjusted for inflation. This […]

GST hike boon for tax cheats

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 pm, March 2nd, 2010 - 34 comments

Some contractors and small business owners record private costs as business expenses and claim back the GST. The cheats who claim enough GST back get payments from IRD. Hiking GST puts more of our money in the pockets of these tax cheats.