Lotto : more Harm..than good. RNZ and Guyon Espiner.
New Zealanders now spend $1.5 billion a year on Lotto's gambling products – Lotto, Strike, Powerball, Keno, Bullseye and Instant Kiwi – nearly double what they spent a decade ago.
Selah Hart said that like fast food and alcohol outlets, the gambling industry looked to the demographic most likely to buy their products.
"NZ's Luckiest lotto stores" ? Fabricated..if not an outright LIE !
Good work, Guyon and RNZ . I hope Jan Tinetti as Minister…investigates this insidious, well advertised/promoted everywhere, harmful to the target communities, ..as much as Guyon has.
There are more in this series Links on RNZ
Incl 9 year olds !
Any promotion of any aspect of institutional gambling; Lotto, Instant Kiwi, TAB, should be made illegal.
Additionally, all pokies should be shut down. The revenue they raise for the community is far outweighed by the harm they cause.
Aye. lotto has become some kind of "acceptable" monster….
When the Lotto Powerball jackpot went up, food sales dropped.
The documents also show that, at some stores, staff are spending more than $5000 a month on Lotto products and sometimes more than $500 in one transaction
And absolutely re pokies! Always touted as of great benefit to their communities….the reality is they suck all benefit…out, and into the pokie owners bank.
I am heartened to see change from some NZ Councils…who can see the harm. Waitaki an example…apart from right wing "humourist" ol' Jim Hopkins.
John Ralston Saul said it such a long time ago (Doubter's Companion, 1995).
When governments raise money by acting as croupiers, the systems they manage are degenerate and closer to their end than their beginning… Early in the 1970's Western governments turned to licensed gambling to provide the funds which taxation no longer seemed able to raise.
Oh thanks for that ! Have to say that the Standard and Standardistas (first time user: ) does raise the bar…as to previously unknown (well to me anyway ! ) Authors,Scientists, Economists,Historians,etc; etc;
Great stuff : )
His work is known for being thought-provoking and ahead of its time, leading him to be called a “prophet” by Time[3] and to be included in Utne Reader’s list of the world’s leading thinkers and visionaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ralston_Saul
Out of the three greatest (IMO) Federer has always been my favourite. I think Nadal is probably statistically the best as he's won the most grand slams. I think Djokovic will eventually become the 'greatest' or most grand slam winner as long as he remains injury free.
A little over wrought I would say. I mean having a choice about vaccinations and mask wearing for the good of society and oneself are really shameful breaches of basic human rights.
60 days seems to be the vital period in America for walking on eggshells.
"The Department of Justice may now hold off making any decision on whether to criminally charge Donald Trump until after the midterms in order to abide by the so-called "60 day rule."
While the 60 day rule is not official legislation, there is a long running tradition that the Department of Justice will avoid making any decisions that could affect how people vote so close to an upcoming election or elections."
The DOJ prioritises not wanting to affect how people might vote instead of prioritising not wanting to deal with people who commit crimes.
”That is what has been lost in the US: the acceptance that democracy rests on a contingent economic and political compromise between the electorate and elites. Workers agree to accept capitalism in exchange for better wages, job security and living conditions, including educational opportunity and access to affordable housing, drinking water, transportation, power and the like. Elites agree to use a percentage of their pre-tax profits an/or increased corporate and individual taxation to provide the mass of wage-earners with the material conditions required for social peace. Regardless of partisan identity, governments mediate interests and administer the broad terms of the bargain.
That is a central feature. What brings this all together as a workable outcome over time is a regularly refreshed political bargain between agents of elites and workers in all of their guises–lobbies, unions, parties, non-profits, community organisations etc. They all have their specific interests that make for differences in priority and approaches to pursuing them. But they have a larger common interest in seeing the system work because it is the best guarantee that everyone comes away with something now and in the future. All political actors understand this and governments act accordingly.”
“My decision comes with a heavy heart but given the strength of concern about issues that need addressing across our region, it is important to avoid splitting the centre-right vote.”
One of the worst campaigns in recent political history.
Beck started out as a front-runner, a "moderate" Nat, apparently more reasonable than the Leo Molloy clown show. Then the curse of Jordan Williams struck, and she put out nasty social media posts and destroyed her own chances. She got what she deserved.
The objectives of a business are narrow, comparatively simple and self-interested. Government is the opposite. Its responsibilities are wide, horribly complicated and involve service to the common good. Business is therefore terrible preparation for government – other than the habits of diligence, sociability and problem-solving that it can foster.
In any case, it's clear that the instruction has gone out and Beck has done as required. Collins will need decent turnout I fear – and Brown has the grumpy old white man who knows all the answers and the problem is that no-one is listening to him because they are all so woke vote all sewn up.
I mean, this is just absurdly funny … and she wanted to run a city?
Auckland Council have confirmed Viv Beck can’t technically pull out of the race at this stage. Any votes she receives will be counted and if she wins, she’d have to resign or take office.
Latest polling shows National and Act overtaking the Greens and Labour.
As we approach the dying days of the Ardern administration.
If the Prime Minister wanted to get a lift in the polls and see her administration last beyond the next election, all she has to do, is end the housing crisis.
She could do this easily and immediately, without any cost to the tax payers..
Ending the housing crisis would be the easy part, convincing her fellow cabinet Ministers to want to, would be the hard part.
As Chris Trotter so aptly put it, the neo-liberal fanatics in Labour would rather keep their control of the losing side than, than lose their control of the winning side. Neoliberals would die in a ditch before allowing our homeless families to be housed, if it was at the expense of the banksters, the housing speculators, the profiteering rack-renters, the wealth storing creeps, (ie their people).
What Auckland’s ‘ghost homes’ could do for the housing crisis
There are about 40,000 ‘ghost houses’ in Auckland. Cat MacLennan asks if a tax on these empty homes could help house homeless people and low-income workers.
….According to the 2018 Census, there are approximately 40,000 empty private homes in Auckland. That is 7.3 percent of the total, up from 6.6 percent in the previous Census in 2013. And Auckland is not the only place in Aotearoa with vacant homes at a time when accommodation is expensive and in short supply…
….a significant number are empty simply because the owners are focused on capital gains. This is now an international phenomenon. In England it is called “buy to leave,” in New York it is described as “warehousing,” while in British Columbia it is known as “wealth storing”.
….
Vancouver was the first city in North America to introduce a tax on empty houses. The 1 percent tax was levied on 2538 vacant homes in 2017, but on only 1989 properties in 2018. A 22 percent drop in the number of vacant homes taxed occurred at the same time as the number of properties rented to tenants climbed by 7 percent. There was also a 21 percent leap in the number of condos being rented out in the city.
It is very early days for the tax and there are many reasons for variations in property occupation statistics, but the first results from the levy are encouraging.
…..Heavy lobbying by real estate agents sank such a tax in New York City.
….an empty homes tax might be more effective at providing housing than building more homes, as the key issue was intense competition for desirable properties, rather than a lack of properties.
Interesting. I increasingly think however, that polls should be required to report undecided, and actual levels of support, which gives a more realistic picture to the voting public, rather than pretending that either party commands a valid majority.
The overall general downward trend is what is what is significant.
The P.M. would have to do something dramatic and progressive to reverse that general downward trend, if she wants to stay in office.
In my opinion an empty homes tax would do it.
The PM would have a hell of a battle on her hands to convince her cabinet colleagues.
The struggle over the CGT is instructive. This mildest of tax reform on housing speculation, recommended by the Tax Working Group, was rejected out of hand by the government.
I think we can safely conclude from this failure to achieve even the mildest conservative reform to deter housing speculation, that this government has done all it's going to do on progressive legislation. It's done. That's it. Sayonara
…..The Secretariat of New Zealand’s Tax Working Group in 2018 prepared a paper titled Taxing vacant property. It took a negative view of such taxes, describing them as difficult to enforce, contentious to define and likely to involve high administration and compliance costs.
In short, the document had nothing good to say about empty homes taxes. That is a pity and does not seem borne out by the overseas experience.
The Tax Working Group’s final report released in February 2019 recommended the introduction of a capital gains tax in New Zealand. However, the Government swiftly put the kibosh on this suggestion, making no attempt to sell it to the electorate even though it is obviously an essential tool to rebalance investment away from housing.
It would be very helpful for New Zealand to introduce a tax on empty homes, to create Empty Homes Officer positions in councils, and to encourage the owners of vacant properties to bring them back into use….
It was certainly a bizarre move. When an organization as conservative as the OECD recommends a CGT, you have to wonder how far right Labour have drifted to ignore them.
Land taxes, wealth taxes, inheritance taxes. Let's do a Jubilee every 49 years. Let's make all land leasehold for 99 years. No more private landowners building disgusting little billionaire fiefdoms all over Aotearoa
Seems to me to be a major issue with this narrative. That being that, in extending the bright line test to 10 years and some minor reforms at IRD the govt did implement a CGT. This was also accepted by National, with the caveat that Key was happy with the two year bright line test.
I mean what is the problem with the understanding that if your speculating on housing appreciation that you will pay tax on that activity in NZ?
I remember Mickeysavage alluding to this point in a recent tax post. Maybe some credit should be given for actually following through on a Labour campaign promise. This is probably due even if twitter doesn't really understand that its the same policy with a different name.
Otherwise some reflection seems due on what critical differences exist which make it impossible to acknowledge a policy success. Surely the policy name is not an important part of the policies workings?
Yes agreed. I am also a bit uncomfortable about this poll. It's done by a right wing National party operative (Farrar) for a far right think tank (Taxpayers Union). If Farrar had done it for a reputable client I would be OK with it – because the client would actually care about the methodology and accuracy of reporting, and Farrar would lose the contract if these weren't up to scratch. But the whole purpose of the Taxpayer's Union is propaganda – and we are in an age where polls are increasingly weaponised and used to form opinion, rather than to merely report it.
That said, I have no doubt that it's all very close between the two sides now, and has been for some time – because other polls show something similar.
Some polls are tools for measuring public opinion, other polls are tools for manipulating public opinion. The polls might be sound in their own right, but the timing of release, the reporting, the ‘affiliated’ narrative, et cetera, can change the context considerably. Watch for click bait headlines each time a poll comes out.
If Curia-for-the-Taxpayers-Union were consistently slanted – we'd see this in the results of the polls (see link to the invaluable Wikipedia resource, above), and we don't.
While I'd say that right/left are still too close to call (my default position on poll differences under 5%) – the difference is starting to widen. And, will be giving Labour numbers men (or women) cause for concern.
This polling period did cover the fall-out from the Sharma affair (though I suspect this was more of a beltway issue). But the issues people are claiming influence their voting, are economic ones – rising cost-of-living, etc. Which Labour have little control over, but the government wears the blame for.
The general downward trend in government support has hit the point of intersection. In my opinion reversing the direction of this trend and make it head in the upward direction, or even level off will take some effort. The cost of living crisis is not of the government's making, but more affordable and attainable housing will go some way to address it.
I might suggest taking GST off food and replacing the lost revenue with an FTT, (Robin Hood Tax), as another measure to address the cost of living crisis. The Labour Party once supported removing GST off food in opposition. But in government, removing GST off food is a step way too far for most neoliberals, (even in an unaddressed cost of living crisis that could see them turfed out of office).
P.S. Fancy that, just like Labour when they are out of office, Jim Bolger is out of office, he is all for tax justice.
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger backs letter calling for tax on rich
Zac Fleming 14/07/2020
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger is backing calls for taxes on the rich to be raised, saying the wealthy need to help pay for New Zealand's COVID-19 recovery.
"The tax system is totally unbalanced," Bolger says, "and the multibillionaires, and the billionaires, and the millionaires are all not paying their fair share of taxes."….
….The Millionaires for Humanity letter was organised by the United States group The Patriotic Millionaires, and says that while they aren't essential workers with frontline skills, "we do have money, lots of it.
"We ask our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently," the letter continues…..
I have some difficulty in how a land tax would work. On one income it is already hard enough to pay bills let alone try and save for retirement for two people and the occasional getting kids out of the shit when bad things happen. I already pay an extra $6,000 a year more in tax than two people earning the same amount as me.
Rates, house and contents insurance all continue to rise faster than my income (I'm begrudgingly delaying some maintenance while I save for paint) and yet I think I'm fortunate to at least have a job and a reasonable income – though my middle and single son earns $30,000 a year plus more than I do.
So I'm thinking how do I even start to pay a land tax on my over inflated land value when I'll still be paying my mortgage into my just past mid-60's.
Then I think about all the old people who were fortunate to buy a house in the 70's who only have NZS as an income but whose land values have also risen to ridiculous levels.
My house and land value is a nonsense and certainly doesn't reflect disposable wealth. We bought it and took on its mortgage when young to live in and live in it we still do. From my perspective it is worthless as an asset unless it is sold and its benefits are safety and security and stability. It costs money rather than generates an income.
I'm not convinced of a land tax unless something gives elsewhere like rebates for dependent partners – or exempting the family home that you actually live in.
Agree. The issue with a lot of these tax proposals is they make and carry completely incorrect assumptions of how the economy works around with them.
For example, replacing GST with a FTT. This carries the assumption that the ideal balance of govt payments is what ever the present state is. Thats almost certainly wrong and will definitely fluctuate over time of that policy change. On the other hand just dropping GST is a perfectly reasonable proposal by itself.
On land taxes, the fundamental assumption is that the country is selecting to have too much land sitting idle (under housing) and by taxing land it will change investment to put more land into use. Now, for one thing thats a very simplistic view of the drivers of productive land use, so I doubt this is the key decision point between these two uses. But also there are regular payments due to owning property, called rates. I know what popular opinion is on rates and its typically that councils waste too much money and so rates are too high.
Dont even get me started on Gareth Morgans proposals for a basic income, so that the tax base can be fundamentally reconfigured, so that every asset must be productively invested to avoid tax.
I've oft argued for a turnover tax to spread the tax burden across all businesses so every business pays tax. This would simplify the tax system and allow it to be collected at the transaction time for electronic sales.
Also reduce the ability to transfer costs off-shore and mean that expenses are mainly between shareholders and the business as they make no difference to the tax position.
Couple this with a commitment that a portion of any annual surpluses being returned to business's – say 40% of a surplus when good years occur.
This would also simply business's in that they wouldn't need to do all the vertical integration they do to minimise tax – in fact it would discourage them from doing so. It would also reduce the under-the-table black economy as their would be little point.
South Africa has turnover tax and some of the EU has started putting in turnover tax rates for businesses who operate in their country but do not contribute to the taxation system in that country – again on the basis that they should contribute towards the country they are selling products in.
As things like robotics takes an ever increasing number of jobs the lack of PAYE that robots pay will also start to reduce the tax take. The greatest proportion of tax is paid by workers not businesses. Different models are needed particularly with globalisation.
It isn't about taking more tax it is about spreading the same tax burden across every single business. May will pay less than they do now, others more.
I've yet to hear an answer from the GP on how land-rich, but income-poor people (i.e. elderly who own their own home, but don't have other significant assets) would actually be able to pay this 'wealth tax'.
Over $1 million is 3/4 of the houses in Auckland (well, it may change with the dropping house prices – but the average is still well over $1M). That's a heck of a lot of people potentially affected.
The 'Granny Tax' headlines will have frightened off all of the other political parties.
No different from paying rates then and any other costs, for that matter. There should be a mechanism for asset-rich cash-poor grannies to defer the wealth tax to the estate, so it effectively becomes an estate tax. Wheeling out old mourning grannies makes for good counter propaganda but not for a strong counter argument against Wealth Tax. Bring it on!
So, effectively, then, Estate duty, would be a better/fairer argument.
The argument against ‘Bring it on’ is that the Greens floated this at the last election (may have been in 2017 as well) – and no one else (i.e. Labour – since it doesn’t really matter what ACT/National policies are, since the Greens won’t go into coalition with them) wanted a bar of it.
Given that the Green vote is persistently around 10%, unless they want to declare this as a bottom line in negotiations (which seems against their standard practice, to do) – the chances of the policy going anywhere, seem ….. minor.
Nope, a Wealth Tax primarily, for each individual who has a net wealth of more than one Million dollars. Under exceptional circumstances only, such as demonstrable economic hardship, the tax could be put against the value of the property (with interest), because that’s what we mostly talk about here, and then settled upon sale or death.
I don’t speak for or on behalf of the Green Party, I speak for myself and I think something like a Wealth Tax is a good thing. That said, unlike many others, the Green Party doesn’t drop as many policies or proposals because they are too hard and/or not popular enough, mainly with the middle class that occupies the large political centre – I’d call that integrity – and that’s very likely one of the reasons that they seem to have a base of around 10%. I do hope that next government will be a true MMP coalition, be it what it may.
Replying to your point below (run out of 'reply' function)
And the GP are (demonstrably) not selling it to the electorate as ‘fair’. [my italics]
That’s inaccurate and misleading, but since you made the assertion you need to back it up with evidence although you will have difficulty proving a negative – I can disprove it with one simple positive – the onus is on you.
Curia research poll for the TU showing that 3/4 NZ against. [I know that TS don't like Curia or the TU – and I'll welcome a GP commissioned poll showing something different, however I was unable to find one]
It's clearly a GP platform, but there is no evidence that they are gaining any cut through with the electorate. There is no evidence that increased numbers of Kiwis are being convinced this is the right way to go. The GP remain at (or around) 10% in election polling – this is not shifting their base-line of support upwards.
And, as I said above – given that it's been ruled out by Labour (National and ACT are irrelevant, since the GP won't go into coalition with them) – unless the GP make it a bottom line for negotiations – it's going nowhere.
The Green Party is most definitely and demonstrably advocating for fairer taxes in NZ and their Wealth Tax policy is a major plank (mechanism) of and for that. Whether you and/or others don’t want to buy it as such is a different issue and one that’s more of your own making. AFAIK, the Green Party hasn’t dropped the proposal and are not going to. It is all about increased fairness, for as long as the problem remains, and the policy is a tacit admission that it won’t go away any time soon. So, a Wealth Tax makes eminent sense, at least to me.
The tax on wealth advocated by the Green party seems to apply to wealth over one million dollars (excluding any and all single assets worth <$50,000), so those legions of elderly (retired) individuals living alone in mortgage-free homes worth ~$1,156,000 (the median house price in Auckland in June 2022), and driving a typical NZ car would have to find $156,000 x 0.01 = $1,560 per annum, or about 0.14% of the value of their home.
And who knows – if Auckland house prices continue to fall, they might end up being exempt from any wealth tax before it could be introduced.
If two people are living in the home then they pay nothing until the value of the home and other combined high-value assets exceeds $2,000,000.
Seems simple and very fair to me, as long as some of the tax revenue is invested in getting people out of tents, cars, garages, motels etc. and into their own homes. I’d be happy to pay my share.
Is this a tax on all homes worth more than $1 million?
No. Many people with homes worth more than $1 million would not pay any wealth tax.
The tax would only apply to the portion of an expensive home that someone owns outright and isn’t mortgaged. For example, if someone’s home is worth $1.2 million but there is a mortgage for $700,000 of that, then their net asset is only $500,000 and no tax would apply.
And the tax would apply to individuals: so a $1.2 million home is actually only $600,000 of assets each if it’s split across a couple.
Median isn't very useful in this area – as it includes a heck of a lot of lower value apartments.
Try 1.5 million, which would leave the single occupant (usually Granny) with a 5,000 pa bill. A lot to find off a pension, given that you also have to pay rates, insurance and maintenance.
As I said, the headlines would kill this proposal dead in the water – which is why only the Greens espouse it.
Agree entirely Drowsy that it is "simple and fair". IMHO a WT is the best tool available to alleviate the chronic wealth imbalance we have in NZ.
And Incog's idea to defer the WT to an Estate Tax (with interest applied of course) is a good one. This should only be an option where hardship can be demonstrated.
Try 1.5 million, which would leave the single occupant (usually Granny) with a 5,000 pa bill. A lot to find off a pension, given that you also have to pay rates, insurance and maintenance.
@Belladonna (4:17 pm): With a 1.5 million asset, most Grannies could survive several few decades via a reverse mortgage, which would progressively shrink Granny's wealth tax.
Here's the real problem a wealth tax tackles – is there a better way?
Maybe they could. Though most (I'd guess) would be very unhappy to be in that situation. Most older people have a very strong aversion to reverse-mortgages.
The real problem, that the illustration you're showing represents, is people owning more than one house. Which Granny (in my example) doesn't.
So, effectively, you're taking a chunk of her single meal away, and giving it to people further down the table. That doesn't seem fair to her….
If the CGT (bright line) excludes the family home – then how come the Wealth tax doesn't?
And, a Wealth tax (as proposed by the GP) does absolutely nothing about the buy-do-up-sell, rinse and repeat cycle, which does so much to drive up the housing market.
Though most (I'd guess) would be very unhappy to be in that situation. [Belladonna @9:54 pm]
Depends which side of the table you're sitting on, don't you think? Most of the Grannies you seem concerned about might indeed be "very unhappy" at the prospect of shifting closer to the centre of the table, and resist moving with every fibre of their being – so disappointing.
Guess I'm more concerned about the relatively miserable lot the very large number of Kiwis at the 'wrong' end of the table, and how much happier they might be to suddenly find themselves in "that situation", i.e. owning sufficient personal assets to be affected by a wealth tax.
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
The point being that “taking a chunk of her single meal away“, along with a larger chunk of the multiple meals enjoyed by those at the ‘top’ of the table, leaves Granny with much more on her plate than most other Kiwis – and you talk about ‘fairness’?
Its up to the Green Party (and presumably those who support their Wealth Tax provision) to sell it as 'fair' to the rest of NZ.
And, as I pointed out, originally, they've not succeeded in doing so, to date – given the fact that no other political party is willing to countenance the idea.
Granny – living in her house for 50 years – and who hasn't participated in the do-up-and-sell ponzi scheme (fueled by mortgages – so entirely untouched by this tax – how is that 'fair') – is a pretty solid example of people who are 'unfairly' affected by this proposal.
Its up to the Green Party (and presumably those who support their Wealth Tax provision) to sell it as 'fair' to the rest of NZ.
Not seeing how introducing a Wealth Tax would make our current tax system, that funds programmes and public services, less 'fair' overall – perhaps one has to have a neoliberal mindset to see this.
The impact of New Zealand’s macroeconomic
frameworks on living standards [March 2022; PDF]
Available measures appear to indicate that New Zealand’s tax and transfer system redistributes less than the average OECD country and that our level of redistribution has been falling since the late 1980s.
Imho, those who are broadly comfortable with the current distribution of (abundant) wealth in NZ must be wearing fairly expensive rose-tinted glasses if they can't see the harm its doing, i.e. how much less resilient and less sustainable Kiwi society is becoming as a whole.
Granny – living in her house for 50 years – and who hasn’t participated in the do-up-and-sell ponzi scheme (fueled by mortgages – so entirely untouched by this tax – how is that ‘fair’) – is a pretty solid example of people who are ‘unfairly’ affected by this proposal.
And yet the majority of Kiwis can only dream of being “‘unfairly’ affected” in this way. Maybe it comes down to where you’re sitting at the table, and what your prospects are.
So, how about you design a wealth tax scheme targeted at the people who are actively participating in the property Ponzi scheme? The people who are (or were – not sure what they're doing right now with dropping property prices) – actually pushing up the prices, and shutting out first home buyers.
You're still not selling it to me as 'fair'. And the GP are (demonstrably) not selling it to the electorate as 'fair'.
The cry of 'do something' doesn't mean that people will accept 'anything'. And, really, it's not the 'majority' of Kiwis who are affected – Census stats say 65% of households (down from the historic high of 74% in the 80s)- and basically stable between 2013-2018. I'd say it's unlikely to have dropped since then, and may well have risen.
And the GP are (demonstrably) not selling it to the electorate as ‘fair’. [my italics]
That’s inaccurate and misleading, but since you made the assertion you need to back it up with evidence although you will have difficulty proving a negative – I can disprove it with one simple positive – the onus is on you.
It seems much simpler to reverse some of the changes that have bought us to this position than to design something new i.e. bring back stamp duty so tax is paid at the transaction point (increase it even), increase taxes on high incomes and reduce GST, allow rebates for dependent partners, bring back estate duties, increase tax rat eon businesses and trusts – in fact make the trust rate higher. Establish a trust register to show who is entitled to benefit from such trusts and who is actually benefitting (as these aren’t always the same people).
Renationalise electricity and tele-communications – things that give government other income streams other than taxation.
You're still not selling it to me as 'fair'. And the GP are (demonstrably) not selling it to the electorate as 'fair'.
Not trying to 'sell' anything, just saying that the GP Wealth Tax appeals to me as a way of increasing the redistribution of wealth in NZ.
If we agree that a more even distribution the (abundant) wealth in NZ is desirable, then I don't mind what mechanisms (as per DoS’s suggestions @2:06 pm) are used to achieve that goal for a more sustainable and resilient society, as long as any ‘sale’ is substantially free from the taint of self interest.
One thing's for sure – smoke and mirrors aren't very nourishing.
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
Given Ardern's very …. cautious … approach to anything controversial – I think the chances of a new tax would be very slender, indeed. Especially as she ruled out a CGT while she was PM.
If NAct gets the nod at the next GE it'll be tax cuts galore – too soon to be sure about ‘directions’ should Labour get over the line. If we only knew now what the global and regional climatic/economic/pandemic conditions will be next year…
Driving around Auckland gives me the impression that the housing crisis is just about over, I see three residential cranes from my window in suburbia, and everywhere I go I see areas of massive development, and those I talk to tell me of the swathes of development in areas I don't go.
I feel the big beat up is just a last chance to make mileage of a situation that will soon disappear. But then again the borders have reopened so I may be wrong.
I've seen what you see. North, South, East and West of Auckland are changing astonishingly with all the houses going up. Go to Christchurch you'll see the same.
Yes, our drive to the supermarket takes us past half a dozen apartment developments on New North Rd, and we come back through Hendon Ave in Owairaka where Kainga Ora is redeveloping whole streets. Add to that the Kiwis who came home in 2020/21 when their overseas consultancy jobs dried up who are now moving out of the dwellings they bought when they returned and are selling or renting those as they return to Lindon or New York.
Now, I'd hope that some of this is the slow-down on building completion caused by the building supplies shortages (certainly some of the sites around us have had quite substantial down periods where no one was working) – and that there will be a rush of completions in the 2nd half of this year.
However, there are also pessimistic forecasts that building activity has already peaked, and is now in decline
So, apart from KO building – which is relatively unaffected by building costs (though would potentially be affected by a change in government) – developers are not committing to new work.
I’d say that the housing crisis is an affordability issue, primarily. Locking in first home buyers into a lifelong debt spiral cycle by assisting them to get on the first rung of the property ladder is sending the wrong message and simply perpetuating the meme that owning property leads to financial wealth and in fact is a sure and best bet to get there. It’s an f-ing Ponzi scheme where the rich get much richer must faster with a lot of (indirect) help from the government. Not to mention the banks, and the whole FIRE industry that benefit from the government largesse.
I agree about the affordability. However, I don't see a solution to this (apart from huge Government building projects – which seem (given the KO budget blowouts) to be off the horizon for now. The biggest part of building cost is land (around half of the value of the home) – and the next biggest is building materials and labour – with the actual developer profit, fairly low down on the list. I don't see any way that the Government can control any of those factors.
I don't think that it's untrue that owning your own home (well, at least once you've paid down a reasonable bit of the mortgage) is a route to financial stability in NZ. Or, to reverse it, not owning your own house is a route to financial insecurity.
What other alternatives (apart from Lotto /sarc/) are there for financial security? Renting is insecure tenure AND you'll be paying off someone else's mortgage, rather than your own. [Even Eaqub has admitted that he was wrong about renting being a better solution– in NZ at least]
Now, if you're talking about buying for capital gain (not that that looks like a viable option in the market ATM) – then I agree that it is indeed a Ponzi scheme (though, perhaps one reaching the end of its life).
And the money the Government has spent on motel rents – giving bloated profits to motel owners with crappy 4th grade buildings – is obscene. It's like the accommodation supplement (aka landord supplement) on steroids.
After three days on a Greyhound bus, Lela Mae Williams was just an hour from her destination—Hyannis, Mass.—when she asked the bus driver to pull over. She needed to change into her finest clothes. She had been promised the Kennedy family would be waiting for her.
It was late on a Wednesday afternoon, nearly 60 years ago, when that Greyhound bus from Little Rock, Ark., pulled into Hyannis. It slowed to a stop near the summer home of President John F. Kennedy and his family. When the doors opened, Lela Mae and her nine youngest children stepped onto the pavement.
[…]
But President Kennedy was not there to meet her. And there was no job or permanent housing waiting for her in Hyannis. Instead, Lela Mae and the others were unwitting pawns in a segregationist game.
"It was one of the most inhuman things I have ever seen," recalled Margaret Moseley, a longtime civil rights activist in Hyannis, in a televised interview a few years before her death.
Fuming over the civil rights movement, Southern segregationists had concocted a way to retaliate against Northern liberals. In 1962, they tricked about 200 African Americans from the South into moving north. The idea was simple: When large numbers of African Americans showed up on Northern doorsteps, Northerners would not be able to accommodate them. They would not want them, and their hypocrisy would be exposed
well, no, it was never wrong to refer to Africans as other than savage if you asked Africans themselves. Likewise, ask lesbians.
If it's just up to individual choice, then words have no meaning. Maybe this is the point now.
(wondering what's going on? Gender ideologists believe and are pushing hard the idea that males who self ID as women are then lesbians. Self ID being based on a male saying they are a woman, and nothing else is required. Understandably lesbians aren't ok with this).
Suspension of Sanity over yet?
When are we allowed to discuss Aotearoa having a new Head of State that does not live here, takes million in cash as back/handers from despots, has appointed an even more corrupt brother his deputy, married a 19yr old for breeding purposes only, a Head of State that no one here elected?
How did we end up with not just a foreign king as HoS and a crock of a human being. This adds insult on top of insult.
Is there any platform in Aotearoa up to having this debate?
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Lotto : more Harm..than good. RNZ and Guyon Espiner.
"NZ's Luckiest lotto stores" ? Fabricated..if not an outright LIE !
Good work, Guyon and RNZ . I hope Jan Tinetti as Minister…investigates this insidious, well advertised/promoted everywhere, harmful to the target communities, ..as much as Guyon has.
There are more in this series Links on RNZ
Incl 9 year olds !
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/474574/government-under-pressure-to-change-law-as-9-year-olds-buy-lotto-tickets
Any promotion of any aspect of institutional gambling; Lotto, Instant Kiwi, TAB, should be made illegal.
Additionally, all pokies should be shut down. The revenue they raise for the community is far outweighed by the harm they cause.
Aye. lotto has become some kind of "acceptable" monster….
These will be just the visible. Harmful …but extremely well promoted . Definitely a conflict of interests here in NZ
And absolutely re pokies! Always touted as of great benefit to their communities….the reality is they suck all benefit…out, and into the pokie owners bank.
I am heartened to see change from some NZ Councils…who can see the harm. Waitaki an example…apart from right wing "humourist" ol' Jim Hopkins.
Are we to question the social harm of casinos as well while we're at it?
Go for it ….
John Ralston Saul said it such a long time ago (Doubter's Companion, 1995).
Oh thanks for that ! Have to say that the Standard and Standardistas (first time user: ) does raise the bar…as to previously unknown (well to me anyway ! ) Authors,Scientists, Economists,Historians,etc; etc;
Great stuff : )
His work is known for being thought-provoking and ahead of its time, leading him to be called a “prophet” by Time[3] and to be included in Utne Reader’s list of the world’s leading thinkers and visionaries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ralston_Saul
Oh Roger Federer.
The most elegant player we've ever seen.
Hope you go out on a high.
Out of the three greatest (IMO) Federer has always been my favourite. I think Nadal is probably statistically the best as he's won the most grand slams. I think Djokovic will eventually become the 'greatest' or most grand slam winner as long as he remains injury free.
Alcarez may get too strong b4 djocj can overtake Rafa. BTW alcarez is coached by rafas uncle Tony
A tennis great indeed, but I have always found Nadal to be a nicer guy. Federer is a bit too much into himself for me.
Djokovic is an anti-vax wanker of course.
Of course!
'But, but, but don't you know who I am?', as well? & Mountains and mere public health whims of multiple Govts must be moved for me
My partner's aunt in Staffs is keen on Andy Murray and she would want me to throw his name in somewhere.
Of course he's a wanker. He's standing up for bodily autonomy and basic human rights that many on the left were fine with trampling all over.
I'm sure you are right…..NOT!
A little over wrought I would say. I mean having a choice about vaccinations and mask wearing for the good of society and oneself are really shameful breaches of basic human rights.
/sarc.
We’ve been told not to upset those who are in the 10 week mourning period for the late monarch. So I’ll focus on some interesting facts.
I haven’t had a pint since the Elizabethan Period.
Brian Tamaki was in Hotel Bonaparte in Paris during Elizabethan times.
Matthew Hooton hasn’t rolled a National Party leader since the Elizabethan age.
How am I doing? Anyone else with interesting facts?
60 days seems to be the vital period in America for walking on eggshells.
"The Department of Justice may now hold off making any decision on whether to criminally charge Donald Trump until after the midterms in order to abide by the so-called "60 day rule."
While the 60 day rule is not official legislation, there is a long running tradition that the Department of Justice will avoid making any decisions that could affect how people vote so close to an upcoming election or elections."
The DOJ prioritises not wanting to affect how people might vote instead of prioritising not wanting to deal with people who commit crimes.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-unlikely-charged-crime-midterms-60-day-ruledoj-1741535
Not something James Comey cared about in 2016.
Very true.
Pablo always an interesting read. You can see elements of what is happening in the US being attempted here.
https://www.kiwipolitico.com/2022/09/democratic-compromise-as-the-mutual-second-best/
”That is what has been lost in the US: the acceptance that democracy rests on a contingent economic and political compromise between the electorate and elites. Workers agree to accept capitalism in exchange for better wages, job security and living conditions, including educational opportunity and access to affordable housing, drinking water, transportation, power and the like. Elites agree to use a percentage of their pre-tax profits an/or increased corporate and individual taxation to provide the mass of wage-earners with the material conditions required for social peace. Regardless of partisan identity, governments mediate interests and administer the broad terms of the bargain.
That is a central feature. What brings this all together as a workable outcome over time is a regularly refreshed political bargain between agents of elites and workers in all of their guises–lobbies, unions, parties, non-profits, community organisations etc. They all have their specific interests that make for differences in priority and approaches to pursuing them. But they have a larger common interest in seeing the system work because it is the best guarantee that everyone comes away with something now and in the future. All political actors understand this and governments act accordingly.”
Viv Beck pulls out of the mayoral race:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/474881/auckland-mayoralty-viv-beck-pulls-out-from-race
So, down to brown vs. Brown then?
Now it's a two horse race.
One of the worst campaigns in recent political history.
Beck started out as a front-runner, a "moderate" Nat, apparently more reasonable than the Leo Molloy clown show. Then the curse of Jordan Williams struck, and she put out nasty social media posts and destroyed her own chances. She got what she deserved.
OMG the papers are printed and go into the mail today. It's too late.
Auckland mayoralty: Viv Beck withdraws from campaign with 'heavy heart' – NZ Herald
What a comprehensive meltdown for C&R.
$$millions down the drain, right on the eve of the actual voting.
Thousands of voters will put their vote beside her dutifully since they are loyal to C&R, and they will be disenfranchised because of this stupidity.
The right-leaning citizens should not hold back on this.
She will have come under massive pressure from the rich old white men in the "smoke filled rooms".
They have probably reimbursed her election expenses and lined her up for a plum job somewhere.
I'd expect she'd go straight back to her actual job as CE of Heart of the City.
This is funded by CBD businesses and Auckland Council.
Next time you're told that we need that right wing business competence because the left couldn't run a bath, remember this:
Viv Beck has withdrawn from the mayoral race in Auckland only after the ballot papers are printed and sent out, and after the hoardings have gone up.
Vote Viv!
There are Molloy advertisements still up.
I encourage adding Malloy in as a write in candidate at this stage.
The objectives of a business are narrow, comparatively simple and self-interested. Government is the opposite. Its responsibilities are wide, horribly complicated and involve service to the common good. Business is therefore terrible preparation for government – other than the habits of diligence, sociability and problem-solving that it can foster.
In any case, it's clear that the instruction has gone out and Beck has done as required. Collins will need decent turnout I fear – and Brown has the grumpy old white man who knows all the answers and the problem is that no-one is listening to him because they are all so woke vote all sewn up.
I mean, this is just absurdly funny … and she wanted to run a city?
Auckland Council have confirmed Viv Beck can’t technically pull out of the race at this stage. Any votes she receives will be counted and if she wins, she’d have to resign or take office.
https://twitter.com/katieabradford/status/1570548287689883649
It’s a toss up between a clusterfuck and a fucking shambles …
Oh, c'mon Incognito, be fair, Just BAU.
Posted from the antipodean far reaches of ChCh, And giggling!
Latest polling shows National and Act overtaking the Greens and Labour.
As we approach the dying days of the Ardern administration.
If the Prime Minister wanted to get a lift in the polls and see her administration last beyond the next election, all she has to do, is end the housing crisis.
She could do this easily and immediately, without any cost to the tax payers..
Ending the housing crisis would be the easy part, convincing her fellow cabinet Ministers to want to, would be the hard part.
As Chris Trotter so aptly put it, the neo-liberal fanatics in Labour would rather keep their control of the losing side than, than lose their control of the winning side. Neoliberals would die in a ditch before allowing our homeless families to be housed, if it was at the expense of the banksters, the housing speculators, the profiteering rack-renters, the wealth storing creeps, (ie their people).
Oh really !..And I dont think Mr Trotter would know apt from ass…even if he had to sing it. Perish that….
Interesting. I increasingly think however, that polls should be required to report undecided, and actual levels of support, which gives a more realistic picture to the voting public, rather than pretending that either party commands a valid majority.
The overall general downward trend is what is what is significant.
The P.M. would have to do something dramatic and progressive to reverse that general downward trend, if she wants to stay in office.
In my opinion an empty homes tax would do it.
The PM would have a hell of a battle on her hands to convince her cabinet colleagues.
The struggle over the CGT is instructive. This mildest of tax reform on housing speculation, recommended by the Tax Working Group, was rejected out of hand by the government.
I think we can safely conclude from this failure to achieve even the mildest conservative reform to deter housing speculation, that this government has done all it's going to do on progressive legislation. It's done. That's it. Sayonara
Cat MacLennan
What Auckland’s ‘ghost homes’ could do for the housing crisis
Cat MacLennan is a barrister, journalist, and media commentator.
It was certainly a bizarre move. When an organization as conservative as the OECD recommends a CGT, you have to wonder how far right Labour have drifted to ignore them.
Land taxes, wealth taxes, inheritance taxes. Let's do a Jubilee every 49 years. Let's make all land leasehold for 99 years. No more private landowners building disgusting little billionaire fiefdoms all over Aotearoa
The P.M. would have to do something dramatic and progressive to reverse that general downward trend, if she wants to stay in office.
I know. She could come out and say that climate change is her generation's nuclear-free moment.
Oh wait …
(She could still show how the government was going to lead us – including farmers – to do something meaningful about it).
Seems to me to be a major issue with this narrative. That being that, in extending the bright line test to 10 years and some minor reforms at IRD the govt did implement a CGT. This was also accepted by National, with the caveat that Key was happy with the two year bright line test.
I mean what is the problem with the understanding that if your speculating on housing appreciation that you will pay tax on that activity in NZ?
I remember Mickeysavage alluding to this point in a recent tax post. Maybe some credit should be given for actually following through on a Labour campaign promise. This is probably due even if twitter doesn't really understand that its the same policy with a different name.
Otherwise some reflection seems due on what critical differences exist which make it impossible to acknowledge a policy success. Surely the policy name is not an important part of the policies workings?
Yes agreed. I am also a bit uncomfortable about this poll. It's done by a right wing National party operative (Farrar) for a far right think tank (Taxpayers Union). If Farrar had done it for a reputable client I would be OK with it – because the client would actually care about the methodology and accuracy of reporting, and Farrar would lose the contract if these weren't up to scratch. But the whole purpose of the Taxpayer's Union is propaganda – and we are in an age where polls are increasingly weaponised and used to form opinion, rather than to merely report it.
That said, I have no doubt that it's all very close between the two sides now, and has been for some time – because other polls show something similar.
Some polls are tools for measuring public opinion, other polls are tools for manipulating public opinion. The polls might be sound in their own right, but the timing of release, the reporting, the ‘affiliated’ narrative, et cetera, can change the context considerably. Watch for click bait headlines each time a poll comes out.
Well said AB 1OO %
Talbot Mills has also come out with much the same figures over much the same period (2 days earlier)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_New_Zealand_general_election#Nationwide_polling
They have Labour slightly higher than Curia does – though both have National ahead.
Talbot Mills polls for the Labour Party
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/latest-political-poll-points-to-tight-race-for-national-and-labour-with-right-and-left-blocs-even/4DB2VOP7W4XVSRWGRZ2N7KZP4U/
If Curia-for-the-Taxpayers-Union were consistently slanted – we'd see this in the results of the polls (see link to the invaluable Wikipedia resource, above), and we don't.
While I'd say that right/left are still too close to call (my default position on poll differences under 5%) – the difference is starting to widen. And, will be giving Labour numbers men (or women) cause for concern.
This polling period did cover the fall-out from the Sharma affair (though I suspect this was more of a beltway issue). But the issues people are claiming influence their voting, are economic ones – rising cost-of-living, etc. Which Labour have little control over, but the government wears the blame for.
Nats/ACT 49
Lab/Gr/MP 44.5
Hardly definitive when the government is suffering from a Cost of Living crisis not of its own making. 14 months is a long time in politics.
The general downward trend in government support has hit the point of intersection. In my opinion reversing the direction of this trend and make it head in the upward direction, or even level off will take some effort. The cost of living crisis is not of the government's making, but more affordable and attainable housing will go some way to address it.
I might suggest taking GST off food and replacing the lost revenue with an FTT, (Robin Hood Tax), as another measure to address the cost of living crisis. The Labour Party once supported removing GST off food in opposition. But in government, removing GST off food is a step way too far for most neoliberals, (even in an unaddressed cost of living crisis that could see them turfed out of office).
P.S. Fancy that, just like Labour when they are out of office, Jim Bolger is out of office, he is all for tax justice.
As I have said many times on TS, a Wealth Tax is what is desperately needed to reduce inequality….only the Green Party supports this.
Even Piketty has backed away from wealth taxes because France tried one and failed. Land tax would work though.
I have some difficulty in how a land tax would work. On one income it is already hard enough to pay bills let alone try and save for retirement for two people and the occasional getting kids out of the shit when bad things happen. I already pay an extra $6,000 a year more in tax than two people earning the same amount as me.
Rates, house and contents insurance all continue to rise faster than my income (I'm begrudgingly delaying some maintenance while I save for paint) and yet I think I'm fortunate to at least have a job and a reasonable income – though my middle and single son earns $30,000 a year plus more than I do.
So I'm thinking how do I even start to pay a land tax on my over inflated land value when I'll still be paying my mortgage into my just past mid-60's.
Then I think about all the old people who were fortunate to buy a house in the 70's who only have NZS as an income but whose land values have also risen to ridiculous levels.
My house and land value is a nonsense and certainly doesn't reflect disposable wealth. We bought it and took on its mortgage when young to live in and live in it we still do. From my perspective it is worthless as an asset unless it is sold and its benefits are safety and security and stability. It costs money rather than generates an income.
I'm not convinced of a land tax unless something gives elsewhere like rebates for dependent partners – or exempting the family home that you actually live in.
Agree. The issue with a lot of these tax proposals is they make and carry completely incorrect assumptions of how the economy works around with them.
For example, replacing GST with a FTT. This carries the assumption that the ideal balance of govt payments is what ever the present state is. Thats almost certainly wrong and will definitely fluctuate over time of that policy change. On the other hand just dropping GST is a perfectly reasonable proposal by itself.
On land taxes, the fundamental assumption is that the country is selecting to have too much land sitting idle (under housing) and by taxing land it will change investment to put more land into use. Now, for one thing thats a very simplistic view of the drivers of productive land use, so I doubt this is the key decision point between these two uses. But also there are regular payments due to owning property, called rates. I know what popular opinion is on rates and its typically that councils waste too much money and so rates are too high.
Dont even get me started on Gareth Morgans proposals for a basic income, so that the tax base can be fundamentally reconfigured, so that every asset must be productively invested to avoid tax.
I've oft argued for a turnover tax to spread the tax burden across all businesses so every business pays tax. This would simplify the tax system and allow it to be collected at the transaction time for electronic sales.
Also reduce the ability to transfer costs off-shore and mean that expenses are mainly between shareholders and the business as they make no difference to the tax position.
Couple this with a commitment that a portion of any annual surpluses being returned to business's – say 40% of a surplus when good years occur.
This would also simply business's in that they wouldn't need to do all the vertical integration they do to minimise tax – in fact it would discourage them from doing so. It would also reduce the under-the-table black economy as their would be little point.
South Africa has turnover tax and some of the EU has started putting in turnover tax rates for businesses who operate in their country but do not contribute to the taxation system in that country – again on the basis that they should contribute towards the country they are selling products in.
As things like robotics takes an ever increasing number of jobs the lack of PAYE that robots pay will also start to reduce the tax take. The greatest proportion of tax is paid by workers not businesses. Different models are needed particularly with globalisation.
It isn't about taking more tax it is about spreading the same tax burden across every single business. May will pay less than they do now, others more.
Read the Green's last manifesto to see how a Wealth Tax would work. It spells it out very clearly.
I've yet to hear an answer from the GP on how land-rich, but income-poor people (i.e. elderly who own their own home, but don't have other significant assets) would actually be able to pay this 'wealth tax'.
Over $1 million is 3/4 of the houses in Auckland (well, it may change with the dropping house prices – but the average is still well over $1M). That's a heck of a lot of people potentially affected.
The 'Granny Tax' headlines will have frightened off all of the other political parties.
You do know it is one mill per person, yes?
Yes, I do. Grandpa dies (typically first), and Granny is left with the wealth tax.
No different from paying rates then and any other costs, for that matter. There should be a mechanism for asset-rich cash-poor grannies to defer the wealth tax to the estate, so it effectively becomes an estate tax. Wheeling out old mourning grannies makes for good counter propaganda but not for a strong counter argument against Wealth Tax. Bring it on!
So, effectively, then, Estate duty, would be a better/fairer argument.
The argument against ‘Bring it on’ is that the Greens floated this at the last election (may have been in 2017 as well) – and no one else (i.e. Labour – since it doesn’t really matter what ACT/National policies are, since the Greens won’t go into coalition with them) wanted a bar of it.
Given that the Green vote is persistently around 10%, unless they want to declare this as a bottom line in negotiations (which seems against their standard practice, to do) – the chances of the policy going anywhere, seem ….. minor.
Nope, a Wealth Tax primarily, for each individual who has a net wealth of more than one Million dollars. Under exceptional circumstances only, such as demonstrable economic hardship, the tax could be put against the value of the property (with interest), because that’s what we mostly talk about here, and then settled upon sale or death.
I don’t speak for or on behalf of the Green Party, I speak for myself and I think something like a Wealth Tax is a good thing. That said, unlike many others, the Green Party doesn’t drop as many policies or proposals because they are too hard and/or not popular enough, mainly with the middle class that occupies the large political centre – I’d call that integrity – and that’s very likely one of the reasons that they seem to have a base of around 10%. I do hope that next government will be a true MMP coalition, be it what it may.
Replying to your point below (run out of 'reply' function)
No support from Labour
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/105763/green-partys-wealth-tax-sees-jacinda-ardern-distance-herself-policy-and-national-lump
Review of the wealth tax (op ed piece) – basically saying 'no' it's not the best form of tax
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2020/08/10/should-aotearoa-have-a-wealth-tax-.html
Poverty advocate against the wealth tax
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/10/nz-election-2020-why-a-poverty-advocate-is-against-the-green-party-s-proposed-wealth-tax.html
Curia research poll for the TU showing that 3/4 NZ against. [I know that TS don't like Curia or the TU – and I'll welcome a GP commissioned poll showing something different, however I was unable to find one]
https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/asset_tax_polling
It's clearly a GP platform, but there is no evidence that they are gaining any cut through with the electorate. There is no evidence that increased numbers of Kiwis are being convinced this is the right way to go. The GP remain at (or around) 10% in election polling – this is not shifting their base-line of support upwards.
And, as I said above – given that it's been ruled out by Labour (National and ACT are irrelevant, since the GP won't go into coalition with them) – unless the GP make it a bottom line for negotiations – it's going nowhere.
The Green Party is most definitely and demonstrably advocating for fairer taxes in NZ and their Wealth Tax policy is a major plank (mechanism) of and for that. Whether you and/or others don’t want to buy it as such is a different issue and one that’s more of your own making. AFAIK, the Green Party hasn’t dropped the proposal and are not going to. It is all about increased fairness, for as long as the problem remains, and the policy is a tacit admission that it won’t go away any time soon. So, a Wealth Tax makes eminent sense, at least to me.
https://www.greens.org.nz/progressive_tax_reform
The tax on wealth advocated by the Green party seems to apply to wealth over one million dollars (excluding any and all single assets worth <$50,000), so those legions of elderly (retired) individuals living alone in mortgage-free homes worth ~$1,156,000 (the median house price in Auckland in June 2022), and driving a typical NZ car would have to find $156,000 x 0.01 = $1,560 per annum, or about 0.14% of the value of their home.
And who knows – if Auckland house prices continue to fall, they might end up being exempt from any wealth tax before it could be introduced.
If two people are living in the home then they pay nothing until the value of the home and other combined high-value assets exceeds $2,000,000.
Seems simple and very fair to me, as long as some of the tax revenue is invested in getting people out of tents, cars, garages, motels etc. and into their own homes. I’d be happy to pay my share.
Median isn't very useful in this area – as it includes a heck of a lot of lower value apartments.
Try 1.5 million, which would leave the single occupant (usually Granny) with a 5,000 pa bill. A lot to find off a pension, given that you also have to pay rates, insurance and maintenance.
As I said, the headlines would kill this proposal dead in the water – which is why only the Greens espouse it.
Agree entirely Drowsy that it is "simple and fair". IMHO a WT is the best tool available to alleviate the chronic wealth imbalance we have in NZ.
And Incog's idea to defer the WT to an Estate Tax (with interest applied of course) is a good one. This should only be an option where hardship can be demonstrated.
@Belladonna (4:17 pm): With a 1.5 million asset, most Grannies could survive several few decades via a reverse mortgage, which would progressively shrink Granny's wealth tax.
Here's the real problem a wealth tax tackles – is there a better way?
Maybe they could. Though most (I'd guess) would be very unhappy to be in that situation. Most older people have a very strong aversion to reverse-mortgages.
The real problem, that the illustration you're showing represents, is people owning more than one house. Which Granny (in my example) doesn't.
So, effectively, you're taking a chunk of her single meal away, and giving it to people further down the table. That doesn't seem fair to her….
If the CGT (bright line) excludes the family home – then how come the Wealth tax doesn't?
And, a Wealth tax (as proposed by the GP) does absolutely nothing about the buy-do-up-sell, rinse and repeat cycle, which does so much to drive up the housing market.
Depends which side of the table you're sitting on, don't you think? Most of the Grannies you seem concerned about might indeed be "very unhappy" at the prospect of shifting closer to the centre of the table, and resist moving with every fibre of their being – so disappointing.
Guess I'm more concerned about the relatively miserable lot the very large number of Kiwis at the 'wrong' end of the table, and how much happier they might be to suddenly find themselves in "that situation", i.e. owning sufficient personal assets to be affected by a wealth tax.
The point being that “taking a chunk of her single meal away“, along with a larger chunk of the multiple meals enjoyed by those at the ‘top’ of the table, leaves Granny with much more on her plate than most other Kiwis – and you talk about ‘fairness’?
'Fairness' is in the eye of the beholder.
Its up to the Green Party (and presumably those who support their Wealth Tax provision) to sell it as 'fair' to the rest of NZ.
And, as I pointed out, originally, they've not succeeded in doing so, to date – given the fact that no other political party is willing to countenance the idea.
Granny – living in her house for 50 years – and who hasn't participated in the do-up-and-sell ponzi scheme (fueled by mortgages – so entirely untouched by this tax – how is that 'fair') – is a pretty solid example of people who are 'unfairly' affected by this proposal.
Not seeing how introducing a Wealth Tax would make our current tax system, that funds programmes and public services, less 'fair' overall – perhaps one has to have a neoliberal mindset to see this.
Imho, those who are broadly comfortable with the current distribution of (abundant) wealth in NZ must be wearing fairly expensive rose-tinted glasses if they can't see the harm its doing, i.e. how much less resilient and less sustainable Kiwi society is becoming as a whole.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/16-08-2022/the-side-eyes-two-new-zealands-the-table
And yet the majority of Kiwis can only dream of being “‘unfairly’ affected” in this way. Maybe it comes down to where you’re sitting at the table, and what your prospects are.
So, how about you design a wealth tax scheme targeted at the people who are actively participating in the property Ponzi scheme? The people who are (or were – not sure what they're doing right now with dropping property prices) – actually pushing up the prices, and shutting out first home buyers.
You're still not selling it to me as 'fair'. And the GP are (demonstrably) not selling it to the electorate as 'fair'.
The cry of 'do something' doesn't mean that people will accept 'anything'. And, really, it's not the 'majority' of Kiwis who are affected – Census stats say 65% of households (down from the historic high of 74% in the 80s)- and basically stable between 2013-2018. I'd say it's unlikely to have dropped since then, and may well have risen.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/homeownership-rate-lowest-in-almost-70-years
That’s inaccurate and misleading, but since you made the assertion you need to back it up with evidence although you will have difficulty proving a negative – I can disprove it with one simple positive – the onus is on you.
It seems much simpler to reverse some of the changes that have bought us to this position than to design something new i.e. bring back stamp duty so tax is paid at the transaction point (increase it even), increase taxes on high incomes and reduce GST, allow rebates for dependent partners, bring back estate duties, increase tax rat eon businesses and trusts – in fact make the trust rate higher. Establish a trust register to show who is entitled to benefit from such trusts and who is actually benefitting (as these aren’t always the same people).
Renationalise electricity and tele-communications – things that give government other income streams other than taxation.
Not trying to 'sell' anything, just saying that the GP Wealth Tax appeals to me as a way of increasing the redistribution of wealth in NZ.
If we agree that a more even distribution the (abundant) wealth in NZ is desirable, then I don't mind what mechanisms (as per DoS’s suggestions @2:06 pm) are used to achieve that goal for a more sustainable and resilient society, as long as any ‘sale’ is substantially free from the taint of self interest.
One thing's for sure – smoke and mirrors aren't very nourishing.
Given Ardern's very …. cautious … approach to anything controversial – I think the chances of a new tax would be very slender, indeed. Especially as she ruled out a CGT while she was PM.
The 10 year "bright line test" for residential property purchased after March 2021, is a partial CGT that was brought in by Jacinda and friends.
However, she's claimed, repeatedly, that it's not a new tax – simply a readjustment of the qualifying period of an existing one.
BTW I forgot to say that I support the 10 year BLT.
Key ruled out an increase in GST during the 2008 election campaign, but tax cuts for the wealthy from 2009 onward were always going to cost more than the revenue generated by transfering public assets to private hands.
If NAct gets the nod at the next GE it'll be tax cuts galore – too soon to be sure about ‘directions’ should Labour get over the line. If we only knew now what the global and regional climatic/economic/pandemic conditions will be next year…
Yep. A reliable crystal ball is much needed…..
Driving around Auckland gives me the impression that the housing crisis is just about over, I see three residential cranes from my window in suburbia, and everywhere I go I see areas of massive development, and those I talk to tell me of the swathes of development in areas I don't go.
I feel the big beat up is just a last chance to make mileage of a situation that will soon disappear. But then again the borders have reopened so I may be wrong.
I've seen what you see. North, South, East and West of Auckland are changing astonishingly with all the houses going up. Go to Christchurch you'll see the same.
Yes, our drive to the supermarket takes us past half a dozen apartment developments on New North Rd, and we come back through Hendon Ave in Owairaka where Kainga Ora is redeveloping whole streets. Add to that the Kiwis who came home in 2020/21 when their overseas consultancy jobs dried up who are now moving out of the dwellings they bought when they returned and are selling or renting those as they return to Lindon or New York.
I agree that it feels as though there is building all over.
However, the completion totals don't seem to bear out the contention that we're getting on top of the housing crisis.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/116242/new-home-construction-auckland-down-94-year-ago
And here's an interesting snapshot of what's being built
https://knowledgeauckland.org.nz/publications/auckland-monthly-housing-update-june-2022/
Now, I'd hope that some of this is the slow-down on building completion caused by the building supplies shortages (certainly some of the sites around us have had quite substantial down periods where no one was working) – and that there will be a rush of completions in the 2nd half of this year.
However, there are also pessimistic forecasts that building activity has already peaked, and is now in decline
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/129579736/residential-construction-has-peaked-forecast-to-slide-to-decade-low
So, apart from KO building – which is relatively unaffected by building costs (though would potentially be affected by a change in government) – developers are not committing to new work.
I’d say that the housing crisis is an affordability issue, primarily. Locking in first home buyers into a lifelong debt
spiralcycle by assisting them to get on the first rung of the property ladder is sending the wrong message and simply perpetuating the meme that owning property leads to financial wealth and in fact is a sure and best bet to get there. It’s an f-ing Ponzi scheme where the rich get much richer must faster with a lot of (indirect) help from the government. Not to mention the banks, and the whole FIRE industry that benefit from the government largesse.I agree about the affordability. However, I don't see a solution to this (apart from huge Government building projects – which seem (given the KO budget blowouts) to be off the horizon for now. The biggest part of building cost is land (around half of the value of the home) – and the next biggest is building materials and labour – with the actual developer profit, fairly low down on the list. I don't see any way that the Government can control any of those factors.
I don't think that it's untrue that owning your own home (well, at least once you've paid down a reasonable bit of the mortgage) is a route to financial stability in NZ. Or, to reverse it, not owning your own house is a route to financial insecurity.
What other alternatives (apart from Lotto /sarc/) are there for financial security? Renting is insecure tenure AND you'll be paying off someone else's mortgage, rather than your own. [Even Eaqub has admitted that he was wrong about renting being a better solution– in NZ at least]
Now, if you're talking about buying for capital gain (not that that looks like a viable option in the market ATM) – then I agree that it is indeed a Ponzi scheme (though, perhaps one reaching the end of its life).
And the money the Government has spent on motel rents – giving bloated profits to motel owners with crappy 4th grade buildings – is obscene. It's like the accommodation supplement (aka landord supplement) on steroids.
As Mr Clemmens is reputed to have said, history may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.
https://twitter.com/lindyli/status/1570269725711814657
After three days on a Greyhound bus, Lela Mae Williams was just an hour from her destination—Hyannis, Mass.—when she asked the bus driver to pull over. She needed to change into her finest clothes. She had been promised the Kennedy family would be waiting for her.
It was late on a Wednesday afternoon, nearly 60 years ago, when that Greyhound bus from Little Rock, Ark., pulled into Hyannis. It slowed to a stop near the summer home of President John F. Kennedy and his family. When the doors opened, Lela Mae and her nine youngest children stepped onto the pavement.
[…]
But President Kennedy was not there to meet her. And there was no job or permanent housing waiting for her in Hyannis. Instead, Lela Mae and the others were unwitting pawns in a segregationist game.
"It was one of the most inhuman things I have ever seen," recalled Margaret Moseley, a longtime civil rights activist in Hyannis, in a televised interview a few years before her death.
Fuming over the civil rights movement, Southern segregationists had concocted a way to retaliate against Northern liberals. In 1962, they tricked about 200 African Americans from the South into moving north. The idea was simple: When large numbers of African Americans showed up on Northern doorsteps, Northerners would not be able to accommodate them. They would not want them, and their hypocrisy would be exposed
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/02/29/809740346/the-cruel-story-behind-the-reverse-freedom-rides?
I'm finding it increasingly difficult to understand some people's thinking and logic.
https://twitter.com/Shenshenpshen/status/1570403738837286916
well, no, it was never wrong to refer to Africans as other than savage if you asked Africans themselves. Likewise, ask lesbians.
If it's just up to individual choice, then words have no meaning. Maybe this is the point now.
(wondering what's going on? Gender ideologists believe and are pushing hard the idea that males who self ID as women are then lesbians. Self ID being based on a male saying they are a woman, and nothing else is required. Understandably lesbians aren't ok with this).
and,
https://twitter.com/nikrowda/status/1570485869685112834
"The question is, which is to be master? That's all." Humpty Dumpty
No-one is erasing women.
https://twitter.com/janeclarejones/status/1570566127906062336
Suspension of Sanity over yet?
When are we allowed to discuss Aotearoa having a new Head of State that does not live here, takes million in cash as back/handers from despots, has appointed an even more corrupt brother his deputy, married a 19yr old for breeding purposes only, a Head of State that no one here elected?
How did we end up with not just a foreign king as HoS and a crock of a human being. This adds insult on top of insult.
Is there any platform in Aotearoa up to having this debate?
Go on then,
Stretch your mind and put up a post on the next move in NZ constitutional reform.
Patience, Bill….
I would imagine the floor is yours Bill. Interested to hear your views on it.
Hoping it doesnt include any politician ( from any party, or some dreary Maori aristocracy tho). The current system spares us either non entities.
But other than that Im all ears!