Don Brash: Hypocrite on CGT

• Guest post
• 13 years ago
• Categories: capital gains, don brash, Economy, tax

I see Brash has put out a release headlined: “CGT Reactionary, Ruinous, Retrograde and Wrong – Brash”

Is that the same Brash that put out a booklet when he was reserve bank governor, which said:

The absence of a capital gains tax, and the over-taxation of many types of productive investment (largely because of depreciation allowances based on historical cost), together mean that inflation creates a strong bias in favour of real estate investment and against investment in plant and equipment.

Or made a speech in 1998 that said:

It is not at all clear to me why, given an already-strong tendency for New Zealanders to invest in property, we should give special tax advantages to that form of investment.

Or Don Brash from Monday who said:

I think you will find most economists feel uneasy about the fact that someone who works for wages can pay tax at 33 percent…and someone who makes a capital gain pays no tax on that. It does on the face of it seem unfair.

Hypocrite.