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?
A couple of months ago now I wrote a post about the new set of discount rates government agencies are supposed to use in undertaking cost-benefit analysis, whether for new spending projects or for regulatory initiatives. The new, radically altered, framework had come into effect from 1 October last year, ...
Huawei dominates Indonesia’s telecommunication network infrastructure. It won over Indonesia mainly through cost competitiveness and by generating favour through capacity-building programs and strategic relationships with the government, and telecommunication operators. But Huawei’s dominance poses risks. ...
Democracy and the liberal tradition have long been seen as among the most basic tenets of the American way of life. They are also the main reason the West has for the past 80 years ...
Nicola Willis continues to compare the economy to a household needing to tighten its belt to survive. Photo: Getty Images The key long stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, April 29 are: Nicola Willis today announced a cut in the Government’s new spending ...
The Herald had another announcement today about a new solar farm being officially opened - this time the 63MW Lauriston solar farm in Canterbury. It is of course briefly "NZ’s biggest solar farm", but it will soon be overtaken by Kōwhai park at Christchurch airport (168MW) and Tauhei (202MW), both ...
I woke this morning to the shock news that Tory Whanau was no longer contesting the Wellington mayoralty, having stepped aside to leave the field clear for Andrew Little. Its like a perverse reversal of Little's 2017 decision to step aside for Jacinda - the stale, pale past rudely shoving ...
In a pre-Budget speech this morning the Minister of Finance announced that this year’s operating allowance – the net amount available for new initiatives – was being reduced from $2.4 billion to $1.3 billion (speech here, RNZ story here). Operating allowance numbers in isolation don’t mean a great deal (what ...
Of the two things in life that are certain, defence and national security concern themselves with death but need to pay more attention to taxes. Australia’s national security, defence and domestic policy obligations all need ...
The Coalition of Chaos is at it again with another half-baked underwhelming scheme that smells suspiciously like a rerun of New Zealand’s infamous leaky homes disaster. Their latest brainwave? Letting tradies self-certify their own work on so-called low-risk residential builds. Sounds like a great way to cut red tape to ...
Perfect by natureIcons of self indulgenceJust what we all needMore lies about a world thatNever was and never will beHave you no shame don't you see meYou know you've got everybody fooledSongwriters: Amy Lee / Ben Moody / David Hodges.“Vote National”, they said. The economic managers par excellence who will ...
The Australian Defence Force isn’t doing enough to adopt cheap drones. It needs to be training with these tools today, at every echelon, which it cannot do if it continues to drag its feet. Cheap drones ...
Hi,Just over a year ago — in March of 2024 — I got an email from Jake. He had a story he wanted to tell, and he wanted to find a way to tell it that could help others. A warning, of sorts. And so over the last year, as ...
Back in the dark days of the pandemic, when the world was locked down and businesses were gasping for air, Labour’s quick thinking and economic management kept New Zealand afloat. Under Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson, the Wage Subsidy Scheme saved 1.7 million jobs, pumping billions into businesses to stop ...
When I was fifteen I discovered the joy of a free bar. All you had to do was say Bacardi and Coke, thanks to the guy in the white shirt and bow tie. I watched my cousin, all private school confidence, get the drinks in, and followed his lead. Another, ...
The Financial Times reported last week that China’s coast guard has declared China’s sovereignty over Sandy Cay, posting pictures of personnel holding a Chinese flag on a strip of sand. The landing apparently took place ...
You might not know this, but New Zealand’s at the bottom of the global league table for electric vehicle (EV) chargers, and the National government’s policies are ensuring we stay there, choking the life out of our clean energy transition.According to the International Energy Agency’s 2024 Global EV Outlook, we’ve ...
We need more than two Australians who are well-known in Washington. We do have two who are remarkably well-known, but they alone aren’t enough in a political scene that’s increasingly influenced by personal connections and ...
When National embarked on slash and burn cuts to the public service, Prime Minister Chris Luxon was clear that he expected frontline services to be protected. He lied: The government has scrapped part of a work programme designed to prevent people ending up in emergency housing because the social ...
When the Emissions Trading Scheme was originally introduced, way back in 2008, it included a generous transitional subsidy scheme, which saw "trade exposed" polluters given free carbon credits while they supposedly stopped polluting. That scheme was made more generous and effectively permanent under the Key National government, and while Labour ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
The news of Virginia Giuffre’s untimely death has been a shock, especially for those still seeking justice for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. Giuffre, a key figure in exposing Epstein’s depraved network and its ties to powerful figures like Prince Andrew, was reportedly struck by a bus in Australia. She then apparently ...
An official briefing to the Health Minister warns “demand for acute services has outstripped hospital capacity”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāThe key long stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, April 28 are: There’s a nationwide shortage of 500 hospital beds and 200,000 ...
We should have been thinking about the seabed, not so much the cables. When a Chinese research vessel was spotted near Australia’s southern coast in late March, opposition leader Peter Dutton warned the ship was ...
Now that the formalities of saying goodbye to Pope Francis are over, the process of selecting his successor can begin in earnest. Framing the choice in terms of “liberal v conservative” is somewhat misleading, given that all members of the College of Cardinals uphold the core Catholic doctrines – which ...
A listing of 30 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 20, 2025 thru Sat, April 26, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
Let’s rip the shiny plastic wrapping off a festering truth: planned obsolescence is a deliberate scam, and governments worldwide, including New Zealand’s, are complicit in letting tech giants churn out disposable junk. From flimsy smartphones that croak after two years to laptops with glued-in batteries, the tech industry’s business model ...
When I first saw press photos of Mr Whorrall, an America PhD entomology student & researcher who had been living out a dream to finish out his studies in Auckland, my first impression, besides sadness, was how gentle he appeared.Press released the middle photo from Mr Whorrall’s Facebook pageBy all ...
It's definitely not a renters market in New Zealand, as reported by 1 News last night. In fact the housing crisis has metastasised into a full-blown catastrophe in 2025, and the National Party Government’s policies are pouring petrol on the flames. Renters are being crushed under skyrocketing costs, first-time buyers ...
Would I lie to you? (oh yeah)Would I lie to you honey? (oh, no, no no)Now would I say something that wasn't true?I'm asking you sugar, would I lie to you?Writer(s): David Allan Stewart, Annie Lennox.Opinions issue forth from car radios or the daily news…They demand a bluer National, with ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Do the 31,000 signatures of the OISM Petition Project invalidate the scientific consensus on climate change? Climatologists made up only 0.1% of signatories ...
In the 1980s and early 1990s when I wrote about Argentine and South American authoritarianism, I borrowed the phrase “cultura del miedo” (culture of fear) from Juan Corradi, Guillermo O’Donnell, Norberto Lechner and others to characterise the social anomaly that exists in a country ruled by a state terror regime ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Chris Bishop has unveiled plans for new roads in Tauranga, Auckland and Northland that will cost up to a combined $10 billion. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from Aotearoa political economy around housing, poverty and climate in the week to Saturday, April 26:Chris Bishop ploughed ahead this week with spending ...
Unless you've been living under a rock, you would have noticed that New Zealand’s government, under the guise of economic stewardship, is tightening the screws on its citizens, and using debt as a tool of control. This isn’t just a conspiracy theory whispered in pub corners...it’s backed by hard data ...
The budget runup is far from easy.Budget 2025 day is Thursday 22 May. About a month earlier in a normal year, the macroeconomic forecasts would be completed (the fiscal ones would still be tidying up) and the main policy decisions would have been made (but there would still be a ...
On 25 April 2021, I published an internal all-staff Anzac Day message. I did so as the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for Australia’s civil defence, and its resilience in ...
You’ve likely noticed that the disgraced blogger of Whale Oil Beef Hooked infamy, Cameron Slater, is still slithering around the internet, peddling his bile on a shiny new blogsite calling itself The Good Oil. If you thought bankruptcy, defamation rulings, and a near-fatal health scare would teach this idiot a ...
The Atlas Network, a sprawling web of libertarian think tanks funded by fossil fuel barons and corporate elites, has sunk its claws into New Zealand’s political landscape. At the forefront of this insidious influence is David Seymour, the ACT Party leader, whose ties to Atlas run deep.With the National Party’s ...
Nicola Willis, National’s supposed Finance Minister, has delivered another policy failure with the Family Boost scheme, a childcare rebate that was big on promises but has been very small on delivery. Only 56,000 families have signed up, a far cry from the 130,000 Willis personally championed in National’s campaign. This ...
This article was first published on 7 February 2025. In January, I crossed the milestone of 24 years of service in two militaries—the British and Australian armies. It is fair to say that I am ...
He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningI will remember him.My mate Keith died yesterday, peacefully in the early hours. My dear friend in Rotorua, whom I’ve been ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news New Zealand abstained from a vote on a global shipping levy on climate emissions and downgraded the importance ...
Hi,In case you missed it, New Zealand icon Lorde has a new single out. It’s called “What Was That”, and has a very low key music video that was filmed around her impromptu performance in New York’s Washington Square Park. When police shut down the initial popup, one of my ...
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...
Hi,Perhaps in 2025 it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CEO and owner of Voyager Internet — the major sponsor of the New Zealand Media Awards — has taken to sharing a variety of Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to his 1.2 million followers.This included sharing a post from ...
In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...
John Campbell’s Under His Command, a five-part TVNZ+ investigation series starting today, rips the veil off Destiny Church, exposing the rot festering under Brian Tamaki’s self-proclaimed apostolic throne. This isn’t just a church; it’s a fiefdom, built on fear, manipulation, and a trail of scandals that make your stomach churn. ...
Some argue we still have time, since quantum computing capable of breaking today’s encryption is a decade or more away. But breakthrough capabilities, especially in domains tied to strategic advantage, rarely follow predictable timelines. Just ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Pearl Marvell(Photo credit: Pearl Marvell. Image credit: Samantha Harrington. Dollar bill vector image: by pch.vector on Freepik) Igrew up knowing that when you had extra money, you put it under a bed, stashed it in a book or a clock, or, ...
The political petrified piece of wood, Winston Peters, who refuses to retire gracefully, has had an eventful couple of weeks peddling transphobia, pushing bigoted policies, undertaking his unrelenting war on wokeness and slinging vile accusations like calling Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick a “groomer”.At 80, the hypocritical NZ First leader’s latest ...
It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...
A recurring aspect of the Trump tariff coverage is that it normalises – or even sanctifies – a status quo that in many respects has been a disaster for working class families. No doubt, Donald Trump is an uncertainty machine that is tanking the stock market and the growth prospects ...
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
In a world crying out for empathy, J.K. Rowling has once again proven she’s more interested in stoking division than building bridges. The once-beloved author of Harry Potter has cemented her place as this week’s Arsehole of the Week, a title earned through her relentless, tone-deaf crusade against transgender rights. ...
Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats. With the wind back of Covid-19 ...
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...
Nicola Willis announced that funding for almost every Government department will be frozen in this year’s budget, costing jobs, making access to public services harder, and fuelling an exodus of nurses, teachers, and other public servants. ...
The Government’s Budget looks set to usher in a new age of austerity. This morning, Minister of Finance Nicola Willis said new spending would be limited to $1.4 billion, cut back from the original intended $2.4 billion, which itself was already $100 million below what Treasury said was needed to ...
The Green Party has renewed its call for the Government to ban the use, supply, and manufacture of engineered stone products, as the CTU launches a petition for the implementation of a full ban. ...
Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet's decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists. “Our mokopuna deserve ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
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 Labor leads by between 52–48 and 53–47 in four new national polls from Resolve, Essential, Morgan and DemosAU. While Labor’s vote slumped ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Labor will be encouraged by the Liberals’ victory in Canada’s election, undoubtedly much helped by US President Donald Trump. Trump’s extraordinary attack on the United States’ northern ally, with his repeated suggestion Canada should ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls, who is visiting New Caledonia this week for the third time in two months, has once again called on all parties to live up to their responsibilities in order to make a new political agreement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian, Professor of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology The lights are mostly back on in Spain, Portugal and southern France after a widespread blackout on Monday. The blackout caused chaos for tens of millions of people. ...
By Anish Chand in Suva Filipo Tarakinikini has been appointed as Fiji’s Ambassador-designate to Israel. This has been stated on two official X, formerly Twitter, handle posts overnight. “#Fiji is determined to deepen its relations with #Israel as Fiji’s Ambassador-designate to Israel, HE Ambassador @AFTarakinikini prepares to present his credentials ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University; and Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fellow, Victoria University India and Pakistan are once again at a standoff over Kashmir. A terror attack last week in the disputed region that ...
We are sending send a strong message to those in power that we demand a better deal for working people, and an end to the attack on unions. We will also be calling on the Government to deliver pay equity and honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Federico Tartarini, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture Design and Planning, University of Sydney New Africa, Shutterstock Many Australians struggle to keep themselves cool affordably and effectively, particularly with rising electricity prices. This is becoming a major health concern, especially for our ...
Led by the seven-metre-long Taxpayers' Union Karaka Nama (Debt Clock), the hīkoi highlights the Government's borrowing from our tamariki and mokopuna. ...
Wellington's deputy mayor is "absolutely gutted" by Tory Whanau's decision to not run for the mayoralty, but another councillor believes it is an opportunity for a fresh start. ...
Wellington's deputy mayor is "absolutely gutted" by Tory Whanau's decision to not run for the mayoralty, but another councillor believes it is an opportunity for a fresh start. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona MacDonald, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Northern British Columbia Canada’s 2025 federal election will be remembered as a game-changer. Liberal Leader Mark Carney is projected to have pulled off a dramatic reversal of political fortunes after convincing voters he was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hal Pawson, Professor of Housing Research and Policy, and Associate Director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney Any doubts that Australia’s growing housing challenges would be a major focus of the federal election campaign have been dispelled over recent weeks. Both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tegan Cohen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology Ti Wi / Unsplash Another election, another wave of unsolicited political texts. Over this campaign, our digital mailboxes have been stuffed with a slew of political appeals and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tegan Cohen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology Ti Wi / Unsplash Another election, another wave of unsolicited political texts. Over this campaign, our digital mailboxes have been stuffed with a slew of political appeals and ...
Queenstown resident Ben Hildred just spent 100 days doing more uphill cycling than almost anyone else could imagine. He talks to Shanti Mathias about its psychological impact. Ben Hildred swings his leg over his bike, parks it, orders a kombucha and sits down opposite me at Bespoke, a Queenstown cafe. ...
Queenstown resident Ben Hildred just spent 100 days doing more uphill cycling than almost anyone else could imagine. He talks to Shanti Mathias about its psychological impact. Ben Hildred swings his leg over his bike, parks it, orders a kombucha and sits down opposite me at Bespoke, a Queenstown cafe. ...
Lawyers for Wellington City Council say councillors were given multiple options, and deny staff pushed them towards demolishing the City to Sea Bridge. ...
Lawyers for Wellington City Council say councillors were given multiple options, and deny staff pushed them towards demolishing the City to Sea Bridge. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Crosby, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Macquarie University The Oscars have entered the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Last week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences explicitly said, for the first time, films using generative AI tools will not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Crosby, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Macquarie University The Oscars have entered the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Last week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences explicitly said, for the first time, films using generative AI tools will not ...
$1.3bn in operating allowance isn’t enough to pay for cost pressures in health alone ($1.55bn). There is no money for cost pressures in education and other public services, or proposed defence spending. This is a Budget that will be built on cuts ...
Shane Jones says if the $2 million study proves it viable, it could turn Northland into a major power-exporting region and reduce prices nationally. ...
Shane Jones says if the $2 million study proves it viable, it could turn Northland into a major power-exporting region and reduce prices nationally. ...
Nicola Willis talks about ‘limited fiscal means’ forcing cuts to the operating allowance - well, she is the author of those, and it is a choice that she made.The PSA will strongly resist any further threats to the jobs of public service or health ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sue Hand, Professor Emeritus, Palaeontology, UNSW Sydney Mary_May/Shutterstock As the world’s only surviving egg-laying mammals, Australasia’s platypus and four echidna species are among the most extraordinary animals on Earth. They are also very different from each other. The platypus is well ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University When refugees flee their home country due to war, violence, conflict or persecution, they are often forced to leave behind their families. For more than 30,000 people who have sought asylum in ...
After nearly a decade of let’s-and-let’s-not, Wellington City Council has officially commenced work on the Golden Mile upgrade. It’s hard to imagine why city dwellers wouldn’t want a better place to live, argues Lyric Waiwiri-Smith. The truck carrying a load of port-a-loos had stopped at the least opportune time. Idling ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Gillespie, Professor of Management; Chair in Trust, Melbourne Business School Matheus Bertelli/Pexels Have you ever used ChatGPT to draft a work email? Perhaps to summarise a report, research a topic or analyse data in a spreadsheet? If so, you certainly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Kirkland, Professor of Geochronology, Curtin University Stoer Head lighthouse, Scotland.William Gale/Shutterstock We’ve discovered that a meteorite struck northwest Scotland 1 billion years ago, 200 million years later than previously thought. Our results are published today in the journal Geology. This ...
Poor performance reporting, difficulty tracing what government spending actually achieves and the erosion of trust in the public sector have been key concerns of outgoing Auditor-General John Ryan. ...
New Zealand is now running the worst primary deficit of any advanced economy, and government debt has exploded from $59 billion in 2017 to a projected $192 billion this year. Every dollar of new spending needs to be matched by savings — not a ...
Disruption during a traditional Welcome to Country at Melbourne’s Anzac Day dawn service has revealed the grim state of race relations across the ditch, writes Ātea editor Liam Rātana.It was 5.30am on Anzac Day. The sky was still dark, but 50,000 people had gathered at the Shrine of Remembrance ...
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!