Let’s Talk About Tax

Written By: - Date published: 4:08 pm, September 2nd, 2024 - 44 comments
Categories: uncategorized - Tags:

Yes, Labour can restore its woeful tax position.

In 2019, at the height of her popularity and despite her campaigning on it for over three years, Labour’s Jacinda Ardern ruled out the capital gains tax that her own tax advisory group had just recommended.

This 2018 tax advisory group report still has the most coherent set of principles for leading towards reform and fully worth the read again (Michael Cullen Rest In Peace). The core term of reference for that group’s work was whether the tax system operates fairly  – in relation to taxpayers, income, assets and wealth. Further well-agreed principles of taxation it applied were revenue integrity, fiscal adequacy, compliance and administration costs, coherence and predictability and certainty.

We need to add three more values beside fairness.

Second value: trust. This means that the money the state takes from me will be spent well. Our public services didn’t get this way in a year. They got this way despite the Labour-Greens government generating greater public spending and greater public debt than we’ve seen in our lifetimes, yet mostly our public services went backwards, and National making them even worse. We should not be expected to give more of our money up until government proves it will improve public services. Otherwise, stop taking my money.

Labour in March also voted against taking GST off food in March 2024, despite it being their policy, and rolled over the Maori Party legislative proposal. Public trust in Labour about tax is not possible with Hipkins leading Labour.

Third value: reliability that builds confidence. When Luxon promised tax cuts and cuts to public services in the 2023 election, that’s what he has delivered. That builds reliability and credibility in the citizen you are taking the income from. Chris Hipkins, on the other hand, in July 2023 completely ruled out a wealth tax or a capital gains tax. “I’m confirming today that under a government I lead there will be no wealth or capital gains tax after the election. End of story,” but by March 2024 was completely re-thinking tax, maybe.

Chris Hipkins is the same leader who in the last month before the October 2023 election jettisoned multiple policies that the Labour-led government had spent 6 full years working to make happen.

Trust is the basic social contract for taxing New Zealanders

Public service charges as a substitute for direct incomes taxes are still reliable. Notably the fully hypothecated (ie purpose-dedicated taxes) aren’t touched much. ACC is now a bedrock institution for both National and Labour, because it delivers a clear relationship between taxes upon income earners, and the funds to bring people from injury to work again. Petrol and diesel taxes and road tolls are similarly easy to comprehend because they are spent on transport stuff. Same for Police income from the Proceeds of Crime Act, because Police get extra income on policing with income from confiscating assets that are criminally acquired or can’t be proven to be legitimately bought. People trust in the social contract of tax when they see its income doing what it should.

Fourth value: Reliability

People and families and companies and charities all need certainty so that they can plan their futures, and the levels and kinds of taxes are an important part of life planning. Where possible, Labour and National should agree on enduring tax policy positions and tax-substitute institutions like ACC and NZSuper. If you want the good people to stay not leave, take more of tax policy off the political table so that we are a reliable country to invest our lives and businesses in.

My Suggestions

1.      Expand Hypothecation

To regain public trust  in tax my small suggestion for funding health is: increase ACC levies by 20% so that ACC actively pays for larger specific parts of the health system. Government spends about $5.56 billion on hospitals, specialist services and public health per year. ACC already makes a surplus of about $900 million a year. ACC should grow to be the health version of NZSuperfund: a dedicated massive fund from both charges and investments that takes a proportional load off the taxpayer, and provides a solid income stream aiming for 25% of the total cost of health services. By the end of this century NZSuperfund will be so large it will be worth 30% of our GDP compared to about 14% now, supplying about 11% of state liability for superannuation. ACC could be built to do the same.

2.      Reduce Reliance on Unemployment Benefit, through Employment Insurance

Our consistently punitive public view of social welfare outside of over-65 welfare isn’t giong away as a political reality, and this can be addressed with a dedicated fund that decreases the proportion of tax we pay for unemployment and sickness benefits. The previous Labour government put a lot of work into developing legislation for ACC to be given the power to implement worker employment insurance. It would have paid  those who lose their jobs  – both for health and disability issues and also for redundancies and layoff – giving up to 80% of their wages/salary for up to six months. It was supported across the Ministers for Finance, MBIE, MSD, IRD, and ACC, and also by all the unions and by Business NZ. It was to be run by ACC and funded by  compulsory levies. The scheme was prepared to go live in December 2023, until Hipkins killed it off in his pre-election policy bonfire.

3.      The First $10,000 of Income Tax Free

A suggestion that both Greens and the Maori Party support is to make the first $10,000 of income tax-free. This would generate a $1050 per year benefit to taxpayers. Because this tax relief goes to everyone earning income, the indicative fiscal cost of $3,787 billion is very high. I want to see a common Labour-Greens-Maori party policy platform on this for the 2026 election.

4.      45% Tax on Incomes $190,001 and over

Very simple reason: it’s the same top tax level as our core skills competitor Australia.

It would also help offset the $3.7 billion the state would lose making the first $10,000 tax free.

It would need a further proviso that no income splitting is allowed: a couple jointly earning 2 x $190,000 or $380,000 should pay the full whack. What Labour’s Robertson did do was implement a new top personal income tax rate of 39% for income earned over $180,000. Tax rates on other types of taxpayers, including companies and trusts, remain unchanged at 28% and 33% respectively. While Robertson’s motivation for this reform was to raise extra revenue in a way that is progressive and does as little as possible to increase taxes on low to middle income earners, by not raising tax rates on trusts to the same level it provided an incentive for higher income earners to structure their wealth towards trusts. Tasman tax equality removes a reason for skilled people to jump.

5.      Charity and R&D to 0%, not Wealth Tax

A Labour-National agreement to not implement a wealth tax would make it much easier to change the government. It takes most of tax policy away from National as its perennial effective political weapon.  We’re a young country with low natural resources and low innovation, which has generated very few multimillionaires. We need them to stay here and keep growing.  Also, a wealth tax doesn’t generate much income for the state. It’s a political grudge that achieves nothing except making some feel good. In our history what we’ve seen is capital flight to havens outside of our jurisdictional reach, and just endless litigation substituting for shaming. In 1990 there were 12 OECD countries which had a wealth tax, but only Norway, Spain, and Switzerland now still have them.

I would substitute with a 0% tax on charitable giving in NZ, and 0% tax on specific forms of Research and Development costs for NZ domiciled companies. This would strongly encourage the wealthy to offload their stuff into productive areas without forcing them to, and also strongly discourage simple inheritance transfers, and also promote innovation and diffusion in our medium and large companies.

I sure hope anything on tax coming out of Labour is simple to explain, good for us as a country and our politics, as well as fair, trustworthy, and reliable. And to be credible: not fronted by Chris Hipkins.

44 comments on “Let’s Talk About Tax ”

  1. lprent 1

    They got this way despite the Labour-Greens government generating greater public spending and greater public debt than we’ve seen in our lifetimes, yet mostly our public services went backwards, and National making them even worse. We should not be expected to give more of our money up until government proves it will improve public services. Otherwise, stop taking my money.

    What we are seeing now with government expenditure is the peak boomer effect. It is directly related to the 1947-1960 rise in births. Right now it equates to slow and inexorable increases in expenditure for superannuation and medical demand over the last ~20 years. The effect will rising at an increasing rate for the next 20-25 odd years before it hits an equilibrium.

    It is essentially why the tax base has effectively been shrinking. Labour just plugs the dike for a while, until National has another unsustainable tax-cut.

    This was obvious to me at a 18 year old in 1978 when I was looking at the birth rate then just as it was starting to fall.

    Responsible tax management would look at a previously incurred debt (essentially the idiocy of Muldoon's National Superannuation swindle) and the demographics (lots of unwell elderly) and start paying for it early.

    The problem is that we really only have the Cullen Fund and a bit of ACC to plug the gap with.

    Need to start measuring the current taxation against the forward expenses and build up more taxed investment so we don't get either a whacking great tax bill or a nasty political issue with the elderly saying – "but we already paid for this". Which they are entitled to do (bloody Muldoon and the Nats) but they only paid a portion of it.

    births and natural increases in nz

    proportion of elderly in nz population - stats nz

  2. thinker 2

    All my working life I paid paye tax and interest on the mortgage (which isn't a tax but feels similar).

    I haven't reached 65 so I'm still paying paye but I paid off the mortgage and have a small investment portfolio that, in better times than now) does provide small capital gains, enough that I feel their benefit.

    In my head, I wouldn't like capital gains tax, but my heart says they would be the right thing to do, provided I could pay tax on NET capital gain, which is the gain left to me after any losses have offset any gains.

    What I don't think is fair, though, is a wealth tax. It might seem like a good idea to box the ears of the fat cats, but I would say the majority it would impact would be people like me, who started out in life with nothing and for whom the memory of how that feels spurred me on to work long hours and challenging work environments, so I never go there again.

    Also, the really rich, who I think are the people a wealth tax is targeting,would simply move their money offshore. Love them or hate them, the impact of that on our currency would hurt us all, imho.

    • Tony Veitch 2.1

      the really rich, who I think are the people a wealth tax is targeting, would simply move their money offshore.

      Slap a FTT on them and make it sufficiently onerous to discourage the "John Keys" of this country from squirrelling away their surplus in tax havens!

  3. Mike the Lefty 3

    One irony of the whole tax system is that people get taxed for working, whilst those who sit back and watch the money roll in from investments, shares and trusts pay bugger all, if any, tax.

    Even children get their bank accounts taxed, thanks Roger Douglas.

    And the other irony is that those who can afford to pay the most tax inevitably pay proportionally the least.

    Yes, we definitely need to talk about that.

    • georgecom 3.1

      A CGT is a no brainer. other types of wealth tax may be more open to varoous arguments about their merit, but a CGT is pretty logical. a key to getting it in, some simple by lines and speaking points to negate the greedy nat/act type wealth hoarders who will moan loudly about it.

      • mikesh 3.1.1

        A CGT is a no brainer

        True. It is advocated by those with no brains.

        other types of wealth tax may be more open to varoous arguments about their merit, but a CGT is pretty logical.

        A capital gain, whern it occurs, becomes a part of a person's wealth; but a tax on capital gains is too selective when other components of wealth are not being taxed. A wealth tax would also tax capital gains.

    • thebiggestfish7 3.2

      You’re not very well informed.

      Income from trusts is taxed. Interest and Dividends are taxed at your marginal tax rate. Anyone or any vehicle that owns 50k worth of overseas shares gets taxed through the Foreign Investment Fund rules.

      The big loophole in NZ is the major tax advantage from buying investment properties through leveraged debt with no capital gains tax.

      • Descendant Of Smith 3.2.1

        Not when as my Aunty did had trust accounts in all our children's names – I only found out because I turned 18 and got a letter. The account was quickly closed. Saved her tens of thousands of dollars in tax over the years.

        Not when our farmer neighbor just takes out loans against the appreciating capital of his trust farms. These loans are but a small proportion of his farm and other businesses capital value.

        Not when my uncle puts loads of expenditure on his credit cards, pays it off at 28 days but gets loads of free money through points schemes.

        Not when the man I was sitting next to on the bus skited that he had bought port shares over and above the allocated amount person by applying for shares for both his wife and four children.

        Not when we live in a no risk business environment where you can owe IRD millions and close the business down and start a new one up the next day. (One tax change I favour is to have workers deductions paid to IRD on the pay day it is deducted.)

        Not when debts are set up for benefit overpayments but not for stand alone assistance such as accommodation supplement. Different rules for the middle class.

        Not when you can put overseas trips as a business expense on the flimsiest of business reasons e.g. investigate a new business opportunity that just happens to coincide with an All Black test.

        I'm not a fan of a wealth tax never-the-less. I'd rather just bring back things like stamp duty at a decent rate – at least 10%, increase tax rates substantially over $200,000, bring in a decent universal family payment to enable families with children to have one partner not work, use that money for childcare or raise their child as a sole parent. We pay all three now but simplify it and let families decide how to use it. I can almost guarantee we would see a drop in sole parent numbers as families managed their own payment. High income earners would pay it back through the tax system as would those on NZS who decide to work as well. (The same rationale as to why benefits became taxed. By adding what was a previously non-taxable payment to your annual income you paid some of it back if you were working for part of the year.) Phase out accommodation supplement over 10 years alongside building more state housing. Property values will drop as baby boomers die off unless their is massive immigration. Stop the tax deductability for interest on housing – or allow homeowners to claim it as well without the need to set up businesses and trusts.

        I'm also still a fan of turnover tax at 2% or 3% so every business in New Zealand contributes to the tax system. If every worker as to pay, so should every business – who use more of the infrastructure than workers do but contribute less. In adding this tax get rid of most of the business expenses you can claim – leave that between the shareholders and business owners to critique.

        The whole system is geared around well off people making maximum incomes at present. There is no sense of fairness.

        • Cricklewood 3.2.1.1

          A turnover tax would be an absolute disaster, so many small businesses are currently running at break even or a loss trying to ride the reccession intact. A tax even at 2 percent of turnover would be the final nail in the coffin.

          • Descendant Of Smith 3.2.1.1.1

            So they currently pay no tax and get a free ride and you think that is OK. I thought that it was a matter of tax law that businesses had to be run for a profit. If they can't do this should they not be shut down? Isn't survival of the fittest the rule of the market. Should they not have put money aside when times were good for when they were not? Should I as a wage worker be subsidising their non-profitable business? Don't business people keep going on about wanting a simpler tax system? Wouldn't it spread the tax burden more fairly across all businesses – many large ones currently pay no tax.

            Should you even be in business?

            It sounds harsh, but if you’re a business but making losses, it may be time to think of doing something else or change your business model.

            https://www.beany.com/en-nz/resources/hobby-vs-business

            35 countries have a turnover tax for small businesses already.

            • Res Publica 3.2.1.1.1.1

              That's part of having a social licence to operate, right?

              If you are reliant on:

              • The government topping up low wages through programmes like WFF,
              • The government slowing or supressing the growth of the minimum wage,
              • Taking advantage of tax settings,
              • Not having to pay for using public resources such as water,
              • Not having to pay for pollution

              to make a profit, then you should have no right to be in business in New Zealand

          • KJT 3.2.1.1.2

            Amazing how so many small businesses admit to being a tax payer and employee funded, hobby!

            Time they got a real job, along with landlords, and actually contributed to our society.

            And stopped bludging off those of us that do pay taxes.

            • mikesh 3.2.1.1.2.1

              Time they got a real job, along with landlords, and actually contributed to our society.

              No need for sarcasm.

              • KJT

                Truth hurts?

                • mikesh

                  Whose truth?

                  I prefer to stick to the facts. The fact is that landlords are generally not producing any new accommodation capacity but, rather, exploiting pre-existing acacity; so they can hardly be regarded as contributing anything.

          • mikesh 3.2.1.1.3

            A turnover tax also duplicates the amount of tax being paid since, if you are not getting deductions for expenses, you are effectively paying tax on your suppliers' turnover, on which those suppliers will already have paid tax.

            • Descendant Of Smith 3.2.1.1.3.1

              But you have no problem with workers being taxed twice – once on their wages, the second time with GST on their expenditure.

              Besides you are looking at it from an existing paradigm.

              It is a simple question – should all businesses contribute to the cost of running the country and building infrastructure. In my view the answer is yes. Deduct the 1% at transaction point and pay directly to IRD on the day.

              (I'm of the same view about PAYE and student loan deductions).

              We've just decided tourists should pay towards the infrastructure they use. Workers do. Why should some businesses pay nothing?

              • mikesh

                But you have no problem with workers being taxed twice – once on their wages, the second time with GST on their expenditure.

                Actually, I think GST should be abolished. It's regressive and, as far as I can see, it serves no useful purpose other than to allow income tax to be less steeply progressive.

                should all businesses contribute to the cost of running the country and building infrastructure. In my view the answer is yes.

                It doesn't need a turnover tax in order for businesses to contribute. They contribute through the payment of ordinary company tax.

                • mikesh

                  “Deduct the 1% at transaction point”

                  But it's not just 1%. As I pointed out above, the one percentage points of all the business's previous suppliers (and their suppliers etc) get built into the selling price paid by the final customer.

                  • mikesh

                    PS: By the you're finished you will find that your turnover tax will be adding more than 15% to the final price. You will then be asking the government to cancel your turnover tax and bring back GST.

                    • Descendant Of Smith

                      Nonsense. To do that you would need 15 layers from raw components to final price. That would be highly inefficient and an exceptional amount of ticket clipping along the way (and disregards the current GST regime which adds to me the consumer 15% currently).

                      They contribute through the payment of ordinary company tax.

                      Except the many that do not.

                    • mikesh

                      Each 1% added by all suppliers in the chain gets transfered and appears in the final selling price to the consumer. If each supplier has, say five suppliers of his own it would only take three steps to get to 15%.
                      You must rember that the all expenses they pay, including wages and salaries, are inluded in the final selling price.

                      They contribute through the payment of ordinary company tax.

                      Except the many that do not.

                      Now you you are clutching at straws. Virtally all companies contribute, when they pay company tax. The only ones that don't are those which inadvertantly make a loss – though I suspect there would more companies running at a loss if this so-called turnover tax were to be applied. At that event the government loses tax in the long run because these companies wind up their businesses if their losses persist.

        • SPC 3.2.1.2

          Wealth tax payments can be made annually against a future estate tax liability. The longer they are paid the more likely there would be little estate tax left to pay off (we had estate tax till 1992/3 and a gift duty till 2013).

          Property values will drop as baby boomers die off unless their is massive immigration

          Very unlikely. The economics of super affordability is a larger working age population via migration. The estate land will offer building options …if not earlier via granny flat/small builds out of a factory.

          Phase out accommodation supplement over 10 years alongside building more state housing

          It would take 30 years of state housing to get to that point (and National will not help – just offload funding for social housing onto others land – this is finite).

          The alternative to WFF was payment to the non working partner while the children are under 5 (similar to the SPS terms). Given we chose variable support based on income, the option now is to allow non working partners to receive JSB for up to a year (when between jobs or sick and after a birth, if not working at the time). And to allow those on SPS to

          1. share housing with another on a main benefit

          2. be in a relationship with a non resident

          3. be able to cohabit with a relationship partner for up to one year without impact on the main benefit before moving to WFF tax credits.

          Our current terms result in a poor use of housing – long term loss to government.

          As well as a stamp duty (over $2M) at the Oz 5% rate for this level) – back of envelope figure c$500M, a 5% tax on banks and supermarkets c$500M, there is a 1% surcharge on landlord mortgages, $900M.

          Turnover tax.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnover_tax

      • Mike the Lefty 3.2.2

        No mention of how the rich can hide their income by using overseas tax haven places like the Cayman Islands.

        Your everyday Joe Blow can't do that.

  4. Descendant Of Smith 4

    It would need a further proviso that no income splitting is allowed: a couple jointly earning 2 x $190,000 or $380,000 should pay the full whack.

    Who the fuck earns those amounts? Currently on one income supporting a wife who is unable to work I already pay an extra $5,000 a year in tax over and above a couple earning the same amount. The average household income is $126,000 at present. I only wish I earned that much let alone 2 x $190,000 and I consider I have a good job that requires specific skills that not everyone has and continue to learn new skills.

    I will have the mortgage paid off by 67 (thanks to having to do some expensive repair work) but have no real way of providing for Kiwisaver for two people. I'm less worried about myself but would like to see that $5,000 extra tax I pay at least go into Kiwisaver for her given she is likely to live longer than I despite her health issues.

    I'm pretty sure that some of the DPB growth is due to the lack of support for non-working partners due to financial pressure – this was certainly seen amongst quite a few of my friends who separated during the 1987 crash – and never ever got back together. The assumption built into the system that both can work is a falsity.

    Oh and lets make employers go closer to the employer contribution superannuation levels in Australia. In two years in Oz my son has more in his super fund there than in seven years in New Zealand.

    Back in the day employers actually paid an allowance to married men with non-working partners til their income reached a certain level. None of us single people minded.

  5. Descendant Of Smith 5

    All my working life I paid paye tax and interest on the mortgage (which isn't a tax but feels similar).

    Profit is a private tax. Any price you pay over the cost of production is a tax. Public good versus private good.

  6. Res Publica 6

    Hypothecation is one of those things that's simple and intuitive for the taxpayer in theory, but expensive and difficult for governments in practice. Yes, the money can't be spent on anything else. But the other half of the bargain is that there's no need for additional funding.

    Which is very much not the case with revenue from the FED on Petrol, RUC, and road tolls, which is hypothecated and can only be spent on transport. Waka Kotahi has been pretty clear that this only makes up less than 50% of the amount they're spending on the National Land Transport Programme. They're being topped up to the tune of about $10B over the next 3 years from general taxation. And that's not even counting Simeon Brown's new Roads of National Significance.

    I'd be reluctant to repeat the exercise across other critical public services.

    I also think one of the biggest flaws in our taxation system is that it has the effect of directing investment away from increasing the productivity and efficiency of our businesses, or generating new jobs through creating new enterprises, and into unproductive rent seeking (e.g. landlords).

    Any tax reform (and I agree it's well overdue) will need to address that gap in our capital gains regime.

    • SPC 6.1

      I also think one of the biggest flaws in our taxation system is that it has the effect of directing investment away from increasing the productivity and efficiency of our businesses, or generating new jobs through creating new enterprises, and into unproductive rent seeking (e.g. landlords).

      There is a reason why 24 of 36 OECD nations have a CGT and an estate tax.

  7. pb 7

    In the end, the doctor shortage, the teacher shortage, the police shortage, the nursing shortage, the lack of public services, they are all down to us not paying enough tax. It’s kind of simple really that if you want stuff it has to be paid for and for big, national stuff it only works if we all pay. That this government provided tax cuts when the system is in so many ways stuffed is criminal really and that they are borrowing for roads even worse.

  8. Champaign Socialist 8

    The problem, for the left, with tax as a policy solution for redistribution, is that it places the elected government at the behest of the private sector. It implies, that somehow, the state has no other financial instruments available other than economic growth solely produced by "the markets". In this picture the local private sector and external trade are the only sources of income the country has and that somehow, if we convince enough of the electorate, we might be able to increase taxes a little bit to pay for some essentials.

    In this scenario government deficit – new money created by the reserve bank minus taxes – is not considered an option. Instead it is seen as something that has to be constrained and reduced as quickly as possible. This approach is demonstrated by UK Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves and NZ's Nicola Willis, at the moderate end, to Milei in Argentina at the extreme end. All three share an identical economic view of government deficit spending and are completely focused on reducing that spending in favor of private sector growth.

    The left needs to reframe the economic narrative in order to re-assert the governments positive role in the economy as a deficit spender. The repeated supplication to the right wing narrative of running the country like a business needs to be confronted head on.

    Firstly with the simple observation that successful business will operate with huge deficits for decades to build up infrastructure and productivity – Amazon being the obvious example.

    Secondly the purpose of government spending is to do things that the private sector does not deliver effectively – education, health, public welfare, water, electricity etc. Privatization of monopolized essential utilities has a single outcome – massive returns for the owners.

    Thirdly – and most difficult to explain – a fiat currency issuing government is not dependent on the private sector and taxes or bonds to pay for public services. These are paid for by the creation of new money ‘out of thin air’ at the reserve bank.

    Taxes do not pay for government expenses – the purpose of taxes is to remove money from the economy to control inflation. So we could have an interesting conversation around that problem and using varying and targeted taxes to manage inflation in a more nuanced way than we do now.

    Voters need to be confronted honestly with the real economic choices – more public provision of services with more economic redistribution means less free market choice, managed slower growth and less dependence on asset prices as the only economic option.

    What does an economy look like when it doesn't have the preservation of existing wealth and investment as the center of it's universe?

  9. thinker 9

    Some time ago, I think there was talk about a 2 cent tax on currency speculations would bring in heaps, but lately there's been nothing about it.

    Was it a red herring?

  10. Craig H 10

    Charitable donations reduction is already in place: https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/income-tax-for-individuals/individual-tax-credits/tax-credits-for-donations

    I know that a credit/refund of a fixed rate with a limit of taxable income is slightly different to reducing taxable income, but would it be worth the effort of changing from one to the other?

    • SPC 10.1

      0 tax on the R and D, would be a tax credit increase from the current 15% to the company tax rate of 28%. A rough doubling.

      The charity one is fixed at 33%, a change would benefit those in the tax bracket above 33 cents.

      • Craig H 10.1.1

        R & D I get, my question is really whether it's worth the effort on the donation tax credits given it already exists. It would also reduce the value of the donation credits for lower-income folks.

        • SPC 10.1.1.1

          My answer is no.

          I think he sees it as encouraging more voluntary charity from those of wealth as they seem motivated by "incentives" as to where there money goes.

          The government paying for the extra charity funding – they can look more altruistic at no extra cost.

          And if it appears the wealthy are doing more, a bi-partisan policy around not having a wealth tax can be sold to the masses.

  11. SPC 11

    Advocating that approach and opposing Hipkins remaining leader is a paradox.

    I'll suffice with

    1.there has never been a Labour-Green government.

    2.the budgetary impact of a 6 month payment out of an insurance fund for unemployment (layoff or ill health) is marginal. That was not its purpose.

    (the policy was deferred because of cost of living stress – mortgages/rents/rates/insurance and the fact it cannot begin while unemployment is growing).

    ACC covering sickness is the more decisive measure (but that does not allow a growth in the ACC Fund size because of the cost).

    3.the bi-partisan tax policy of the OECD is where 24/36 nations have a CGT and estate tax.

    4.no tax on the first $10,000 is irresponsible without covering the cost.

    We have a sea of budget deficits ahead on current tax policy.

    5.As for the Cullen Fund continuing to grow to 2100 …

    He said the fund was essentially inter-generation wealth transfer, and would start paying some of the national superannuation costs from the mid-2030s, but the peak would be in the 2050s and as it paid out it would still be earning from investments.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/503125/superannuation-fund-aotearoa-reaping-rewards-of-michael-cullen-s-creation-outgoing-ceo

  12. Ad 12

    Just wanted to thank everyone for the quality of the responses.

    I sure ain't no tax expert, so it's great to hear from people on it.

  13. Jim Skeats 13

    The result- the plan will fail. Spectacularly. [deleted]

    [Making unsubstantiated claims is a characteristic trait of trolls. Lift your game and address anything specific in the OP with some substance instead of hot air emanating from your brain farts – Incognito]

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.