I don't know if others have already commented on this, but it is brave and wonderful that in the budget the tax rate for trusts was raised from 33% to 39%, the same as the top income tax rate, to fix the rort/anomaly where trustees used trusts to only pay 33%.
Luxon will doubtless change this back-Standard readers need watch for the Nats policy position on this.
Trust income, in short if you found yourself in the 39c tax bracket you would once you reached it put the money into a trust which would pay 33c. For it to be a worthwhile work around you needed to earn 300k and up
so people whose assets are in a trust, and are earning income from that, but whose income would otherwise be in a lower tax bracket, will pay 39% on the trust income?
ok, that makes more sense. So people who have a trust but aren't high inome earners, and who aren't trying to rort the system, can just take out the income each year and pay their normal tax on that rather than the 39%.
There is no 'rort'. Beneficiaries don't benefit from a different tax rate in the trust because as soon as they are paid a distribution, their personal tax rate kicks in.
so are Cricklewood and BG wrong when they say that the income being earned by the trust was being taxed at 33% but if it was personal income wealthy people would be paying 39%?
In the next financial year income coming into the trust will be taxed at 39%. Are you saying that if that stays in the trust until the following year but then is paid out that the beneficiary gets a rebate (assuming they pay less than 39%)?
In answer to question 1, ultimately what beneficiaries pay comes down to the nature of the distribution and the personal tax rate of the beneficiaries.
Increasing the trust tax rate to 39% is meaningless, because trustees will simply distribute all profits in the year they are earned (as most do now), and beneficiaries will pay whatever they pay, somewhere between 39% and zip.
It can be a rort. Parents who don’t have a trust have to meet the cost of their child's upkeep from their own income. With a trust, however, a child beneficiary's upkeep cost can be recovered from the trust, saving the parents a fair bit of money.
It would be useful to have legislation making it illegal to pass income to a child (or to anybody for that matter), through the use of a trust, without good reason.
I have friends who set up a trust so that they could hide income so that they could claim working for families. My understanding is that this is a widespread rort
If they are beneficiaries of the trust, the IRD will cut straight through the trust and effectively void the transactions. It’s the same scenario as gifting to avoid the cost of rest home care.
No rorts, of course – just an example of NZ punching above its weight.
Trust that Trust [October 2021; PDF]
A Practical Guide to Family Trusts in New Zealand Australasia is known to have a love affair with trusts. It is thought that New Zealand has the most number of trusts per capita of any country in the world – approximately one for every 10-15 people. Accordingly, they are integral to the fabric of not only our economy, but also of our society and have many uses as we will see.
Too much of a 'good' thing?
The Panama Papers New Zealand link revealed [6 May 2016]
New details from the Panama Papers show how a stream of foreign cash became a torrent flooding into New Zealand trusts in order to avoid tax offshore.
New Zealand, foreign trusts and the Panama papers
[8 September 2016]
These reports are of great concern to both the New Zealand Government and the IRD. There is little consolation for the IRD in the statements made by Prime Minister John Key and Revenue Minister Michael Woodhouse, that the OECD had looked at the New Zealand foreign trust rules in the past and had found no concerns.
Interestingly, in a radio interview, Gerard Ryle, a director of ICIJ reportedly stated that he had been looking at the issue of tax havens for years and New Zealand was known to be a “really soft touch”. When asked about his thought on the New Zealand Government ministers’ statements that the country was not a tax haven, Mr Ryle stated that that this was “rubbish”.
Is NZ a tax haven for the rich and dodgy? The Pandora Papers reignite the debate [6 October 2021]
Five years ago, New Zealand was rocked by a document dump which revealed the country played an important role in a money-go-round of tax evasion and money laundering used by the world’s rich and famous and the corrupt and criminal. The Panama Papers outed New Zealand as something of (if technically not quite) a tax haven and led to rapid reform of our foreign trust laws in 2017.
But this week, a far larger leak in the Pandora Papers has again raised questions about whether the country remains a dirty cog in the global engine of money laundering and tax evasion and if those reforms went far enough.
Re the rest of it – you need to read up on foreign trusts. A clue is found in your last reference and talks about the criteria for a foreign trust only being tax free when neither the settlor nor beneficiaries lived, or derived income from New Zealand.
For a few wealthy Kiwis, tax avoidance is a way of life. Sad, if you really think about it – maybe it gives them some small pleasure?
Simon Wilson: Tax avoidance is the ram-raiding of the uber-rich [8 May 2023; premium article]
For a whole day or two last month, sanity prevailed. We discovered the wealthiest among us pay, on average, less than 10 per cent tax on their income, while the rest of us pay more than 20 per cent. There was widespread shock.
There are no ifs, buts or extenuating circumstances about this. It’s wrong. Equity should be a fundamental premise of any tax system: everybody should pay their fair share.
Christchurch builder sentenced for $300,000 tax evasion [24 January 2023]
A builder caught evading more than $300,000 in tax that he deducted from his employees' wages, spent some of the money on Uber Eats and overseas travel.
…
The judge arrived at an end sentence of 12 months' home detention, saying Win avoided jail by a "small margin."
Home detention for tax evasion [24 April 2023]
In sentencing Clark, Judge Snell noted his “astonishment” at the way Clark acted in respect of the court proceedings and said he had taken the matter to every legal challenge he possibly could. He also noted the jury found Clark acted fraudulently “without any difficulty at all”.
Is the only real problem with tax evasion ‘getting caught’? So many thrilling 'stories', and this is a great opportunity to post them here. Will there be more opportunities? I do hope so.
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
Parker said new information from Inland Revenue showed an almost 50% spike in income subject to the trustee rate when the new 39% personal income tax rate came into effect.
The amount going through trusts had jumped from $11.4 billion in the 2020 tax year to $17.1b in the 2021 tax year – a $5.7b increase.
“The report also shows that a substantial number of the super-wealthy funnel their income through trusts which minimises their tax bill. This change remedies that,” Parker said.
Parker said the change would improve the fairness of the tax system.
Seems fair to me – have NAct promised to reverse it yet? Not paying your fair share of tax is an optional perk of wealth the world over.
"If you believe that "the use of trusts" and "tax avoidance" are whole different conversations, then I have an old car to sell you" – DMK
They are completely different. – LB
Nope. The clue is in the title of the article about that “silly“, “faulty and shoddy” (in your opinion) report, specifically – "spike in trust use to avoid tax."
"Nope. The clue is in the title of the article about that “silly“, “faulty and shoddy” report, specifically – "spike in trust use to avoid tax.""
Your link is to an article that includes this pearler:
Auckland University law professor Mark Henaghan said the increase was down to one thing – a growing awareness of how trusts could be used to reduce tax bills."
Seriously? The good professor ought to know there are a) many reasons people put homes in trusts that have nothing to do with tax, and b) any use of trusts to lower tax could easily be mirrored by other vehicles. Find better sources, Drowsy.
"If you believe that "the use of trusts" and "tax avoidance" are whole different conversations, then I have an old car to sell you" – DMK
They are completely different. – LB
It appears you are firmly of the opinion that "the use of trusts" and "tax avoidance" "are completely different", so let's agree to disagree. Others can make up their own mind after considering the evidence.
Tax bill improves fairness at home and abroad
[18 May 2023]
“The trustee tax change will align the trustee tax rate with the top personal tax rate of 39 per cent. There is evidence that high income earners have shifted their income to trusts to avoid the top personal rate.
“This change will mainly affect the super-trusts of the super-wealthy. In the 2021 tax year, 5 per cent of all trusts that earned some income earned 78 per cent of all trustee income. The change does not ordinarily target smaller family trusts, who can continue to use existing rules to allocate trust income to beneficiaries to be taxed at their personal rates.
Having a trust is not always evidence of an attempt to rort or tax evasion. Taking advantage of Trusts and companies set-ups is not prima facie an indication of wanting to rort.
It is only a rort really when tax is evaded.
The financial planning for tradespeople can often include trusts and companies. The prudent financial planning for people who have children from a prior relationship and/or assets from a prior relationship often use the Trust avenue to protect the children should a subsequent relationship break down. I mean why should a subsequent husband/wife be entitled to assets from a prior husband/parent who worked so hard?
Trust have always paid a higher tax rate so keeping assets for children in this way is not all beer and skittles. Neither is making payouts to beneficiaries, despite what is being said here. (There is pretty onerous record keeping involved) Many trusts have assets that are not liquid and cannot do that anyway. Many settlors of Trusts keep the assets within the trust and so any earnings are taxed at a higher rate.
I have no problem with a higher rate for tax for Trusts but long term it is not going to yield big bucks….better to spend the time and money on ways to catch the evading group (ie the large group paying less than a person on the lowest income rates, or to look at a capital gains or wealth tax or even a modest death duties regime.
I appreciate railing at the so-called tax and Trust bogey does fit in with the depression inducing cry 'its not fair' but ultimately it gets us nowhere.
"Having a trust is not always evidence of an attempt to rort or tax evasion."
"I appreciate railing at the so-called tax and Trust bogey does fit in with the depression inducing cry 'its not fair' but ultimately it gets us nowhere."
That article is full of nonsense. Take this statement:
"Because trust income can be spread across a number of beneficiaries, who are often lower earners, the income is often taxed at a lower bracket, he says."
The author fails to understand that exactly the same result can be achieved without a trust.
Which I have linked previously…The whole Mega landlord series from Stuff (who I actually rate) lifts the rock from the land"lord". Exposing what has happened to NZ.
If a property is transferred to a trust the income from that property is taxed at a much lower rate if the beneficiaries are children, than would be the case if the parents themselves continued to own the properties, and paid tax on the income from those properties at their own tax rate; assuming of course that the children's tax rates are much lower than the parents (which of course is normally the case). The parents can then charge the children for their upkeep, and be compensated thereby from their children's trust income.
It should be mandated that parents support their children themselves rather than turning that support over to a trust.
Incorrect. If the assets are held within the trust it does not matter who the proposed beneficiaries are and what their individual tax circumstances are.
So a Family Trust with a range of possible beneficiaries pays tax at the tax rate for trusts, now the highest rate. The process for allocating to beneficiaries is time- and document- intensive & the benefits so marginal, for my family Trust anyway. This is because many of the beneficiaries the Trust could allocate to now have marginal tax rates above the lowest personal tax rate, that we have not bothered.
NB One of a common way of avoding tax is simply not to pay PAYE for employees or FBT etc. While these crimes, when caught, are heavily penalised, that the financial state of many of these people ensure that tax to pay and penalties can be repaid on the 'never, never' or even if bankruptcy ensues may be paid a low rates in the $$$$
And even then, any distributions to beneficiaries attract tax at their personal tax rate, so at the top end, the 39c applies eventually anyway. Trust income can only escape the higher rate if it is retained in the Trust. The lifting of the rate is largely symbolic.
High-earning New Zealanders moved nearly $6b income a year into trusts after the Government introduced a new 39 percent personal tax rate – but now Inland Revenue will chase it down
Indeed, nothing ‘symbolic’ about $350m a year. The “m” is not a symbol but a prefix that means one has to add another six zeros to get the real figure, in real dollars.
Not going after this money would indeed be tantamount to ‘waste’, so you should be fully behind it, yet you are not, which is rather odd and counter-intuitive.
My comment was a specific reply and specifically mentioned the nearly $6b income a year by high-earning New Zealanders. (NB the “b” prefix means that you add nine zeros to the figure) So, why are you diverting, again? Instead of putting up a decent argument you divert and/or post a wall of selective quotes or links, which is your MO here.
You seem to have a real bee in your bonnet about the increase in trustee tax but no compelling counter-arguments!? Go figure!
"My comment was a specific reply and specifically mentioned the nearly $6b income a year by high-earning New Zealanders."
My comment referred to the lifting of the trust tax rate as symbolic. I then went on to demonstrate precisely how insignificant the $35m is in the context of the budget in which it was introduced. Your $6bn is irrelevant and a diversion.
"Not going after this money would indeed be tantamount to ‘waste’…"
No, it really wouldn't. As I have pointed out, there is a real chance this change could raise little additional or even less revenue.
It’s neither irrelevant nor a diversion (nice try!) but at the core of the Government decision:
“Ministers made clear then that if analysis indicated high income earners were circumventing the rate through greater use of trusts, the Government would move to address this issue.
“New information from Inland Revenue has shown an almost 50 percent spike in income subject to the trustee rate, from $11.4 billion in the 2020 tax year to $17.1 billion in the 2021 tax year. [my italics]
I then went on to demonstrate precisely how insignificant the $35m is in the context of the budget in which it was introduced.
Well, if you keep dropping zeroes it will become insignificant. However, your incorrect $35m (the correct figure still is $350m) is neither ‘symbolic’ nor ‘insignificant’ and you have ‘demonstrated’ only that you’re a disingenuous troll.
"It’s neither irrelevant nor a diversion (nice try!) but at the core of the Government decision:"
The estimated benefit from the change is $350m. I demonstrated clearly that is immaterial (and therefore symbolic) when I compared this amount to three seperate benchmarks…a) the total amount of additional tax estimated over the next four years, b) the total trustee income from 2021, and c) the % of top income earners the new 'top tax rate' would effect.
I have also demonstrated (if you had bothered to read through the thread) that the $350m may end up being much less or even zero.
You either don't have the understanding of this subject to engage in an informed matter, or you're just being a dick for the sake of it. I'll go with the latter. It's in your MO.
[You want us to believe that $6b yearly income by high-earning New Zealanders and that could net $350m in extra tax could magically disappear and become zero even, which would indeed be ‘insignificant’ as you claim. High-earning means that they are or should already be paying 39% tax on any profit, be it from a Trust or elsewhere, and regardless of how they distribute the profit. The fact that Trustee tax was 33% strongly suggests (!) that those high-earning individuals saw a strong enough reason in moving about $6b of their yearly income into Trusts. If this wasn’t a legal loophole used by high-earning New Zealanders then I’d agree that the move is ‘symbolic’. However, the numbers suggest this to be unlikely and implausible. Have the Opposition declared yet that they will repeal the decision? If not, why not? Stop trolling and stop dicking around – only because I’ve been busy you’ve got this far with your trollish claims (e.g. your BS allegation about this government wasting money on “a movie about a Green party MP” here: https://thestandard.org.nz/nationals-policy-machine-is-a-thing-to-behold/#comment-1950174). This is your warning – Incognito]
"You want us to believe that $6b yearly income by high-earning New Zealanders and that could net $350m in extra tax could magically disappear and become zero even, which would indeed be ‘insignificant’ as you claim."
Well, on the issue of significance, I'll quote Grant Robertson, who seems to agree with my assessment:
"The additional $350 million a year pales in comparison with the overall tax take, he says."
"He says 78 percent of all trustee income is earned by the top 5 percent of trusts – that’s $13.3b out of $17.1b. “This is about a small group of New Zealanders paying a little more as a result of this."
A small amount of NZ'ers. The vast majority of trusts aren't set up by the rich, and only a small number of trusts will pay the extra tax.
That should have rung alarm bells right there. Most trusts are for the benefit of less than wealthy NZ'ers, who will simply distribute all income (rather than potentially retaining some income in the trust and paying a higher tax rate) to beneficiaries on a lower tax rate.
And here's the kicker…the $350m is exactly 6% of the $6bn, meaning they are suggesting they will collect the extra tax on every cent of that income. They are dreaming.
[I can’t see anywhere where commenters here on TS and/or Grant Robertson said or implied that $350m extra tax intake is ‘insignificant’ and ‘symbolic’. It would indeed raise serious questions as to why Robertson would have made the decision if this were the case. My take is that you are twisting words & meanings & intentions, as per usual, to score your points. Essentially, you want us to believe that those high-earning New Zealanders – and you keep diverting away from this specific sub-category – shifted nearly $6b of their yearly income into Trusts and they will now hand over control of those Trust assets/income to others just to avoid paying any tax on it (“even zero”!? The mind just boggles at your naivety! Time will tell how that $6b of yearly income will be taxed or ‘vanish’ from the IRD radar, as you seem to want us believe. Frankly, I have enough of your gaslighting days here on TS and I reaffirm your Mod note and don’t want to waste anymore of my Mod time on this – Incognito]
"I can’t see anywhere where commenters here on TS and/or Grant Robertson said or implied that $350m extra tax intake is ‘insignificant’ and ‘symbolic’. "
Re Grant Robertson:
You didn't look very hard. From my comment you were moderating:
""The additional $350 million a year pales in comparison with the overall tax take, he says."
'Pales in comparison'.
Re: Other contributors:
I didn't claim they "implied that $350m extra tax intake is ‘insignificant’ and ‘symbolic’". Look back at comment https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20-05-2023/#comment-1950730.
There are a number of other contributors here who have concurred with a variety of opinions I have proffered across this thread.
"you want us to believe that those high-earning New Zealanders – and you keep diverting away from this specific sub-category – shifted nearly $6b of their yearly income into Trusts and they will now hand over control of those Trust assets/income to others just to avoid paying any tax on it (“even zero”!?)
Tax is not paid on the assets in a trust, or even necessarily by those who exercise control over those assets. Tax is paid on the income from the trust (either by the trust or by beneficiaries on distribution). That $6bn you refer to will simply find its way to beneficiaries with a lower tax rate, or into other vehicles.
[I’m not too surprised that you continue to waste my time and keep digging & doubling down and now denying your own comments aka gaslighting, twisting & turning.
Have it your way: take 10 days off for ignoring several warnings about trolling and wasting moderator time – Incognito]
But if you don't need any operational income from the Trust for personal use like paying for groceries, rent, power etc., you can leave the money in the Trust. And the Trust re-invests it and earns more income at the same discounted tax rate, which you then re-invest in a spiral of increasing wealth accumulation. The accumulated wealth might not be dispersed for years, or to the next generation, where lower personal tax rates might apply.
The money-grubbing classes are very good at this sort of game – they always find a way of getting an advantage over others. Like a sewage leak, the rest of us have only a vague, passing sense that something whiffs a bit, then you pull up the floorboards and realise the whole edifice is rotten.
Because it is essentially a tax dodge. There are many shady loopholes in the tax system: this is one of them. Unfortunately the measure introduced in the budget will not achieve much because it doesn't address the main problem.
When did the ship sail? How long ago and what were the reasons for her departure? In a similar analogy, the reasons for emigration by ship in the 19th century ranged from a search for freedom and personal advancement to colonial exploitation.
Yonks ago. For years (from 2010) the highest personal tax rate was 33%, so there was no tax advantage. Before that – from the 1980's through to 2000 the highest personal tax rate was also 33%.
Look at it this way: if trusts were abolished and everyone paid the correct amount of tax on the income they derived from their assets – rents, dividends, profits, etc., would you consider they were being unfairly treated? No? But that is what is happening when income is passed to beneficiaries whose tax rate is lower. And “protecting assets” is often just a weasel word for diddling one’s creditors, including the IRD.
Yes. There are some legitimate uses for trusts, but when there is a stampede to form trusts when the top tax rate is increased from 33% to 39%, one can hardly be blamed for being suspicious.
No it isn't. Asset protection is precisely what it says. People with assets (eg property) put them into family trusts to protect them from matrimonial property claims, not tax.
No it isn't. Asset protection is precisely what it says. People with assets (eg property) put them into family trusts to protect them from matrimonial property claims, not tax.
Oh – is this where you pretend that someone so ungenerous as not to share with an intimate partner embraces the IRD like a soulmate and gives them everything they're due?
Oh you sweet summer child! Naive even by the standards of the irredeemably stupid Right.
"Oh – is this where you pretend that someone so ungenerous as not to share with an intimate partner embraces the IRD like a soulmate and gives them everything they're due?
Not necessarily just partners or spouses. Sometimes people establish trusts to protect assets from future partners of their children. You should read up on it.
Zoom……if the so-called 'intimate partner' is so ungenerous to find a new partner while still married to the first and claims the assets built up by a prior spouse/partner for the children of that marriage.
You do not appear to know what happens on marriage break-up. I had to get another mortgage to pay my former husband out. Payment being made as a single person is very different from two working and being able to pay and is pretty poor when he had not contributed half of the value….
But you go the way with the fluffy ducks and the perfect marital bliss. It does not work that way sometimes in the real world and some of us in the real world do actually want to live in the homes we built up.
And the Trust re-invests it and earns more income at the same discounted tax rate, which you then re-invest in a spiral of increasing wealth accumulation.
I somehow don't think that paying the higest rate of tax is a discounted rate!
Not all people who set up a Family Trust fall into the categories you are throwing around. I worked hard to save and get ahead and after paying out a husband who was quite happy to take half of the 'wealth' in the home I had on marriage and which he moved into I saw sense and set up a Trust to protect myself and family. I had to re mortgage the house and pay for it again. This was with all the care to separate our earnings at the time.
But you go on slamming people who have Family Trusts.
It has meant that that the earnings in the Trust are taxed at much higher rates than I would have had if I was earning but the Trust has protected me and what I have worked hard for.
The real problem, as opposed to the philosphical problem that some see of so-called 'rich pricks' and their 'mega property deals', like me apparently, is people like this:
This bloke did not pay lawful deductions made on behalf of IRD for employees kiwisaver etc and there does not appear to be any chance that he will. I mean going to prison is hardly likely to get the lost money into employees KS accounts.
I think IRD is onto the Trust tax dodgers quite promptly whereas with people like this it can take at least a year, if PAYE is paid annually for something to be seen as amiss.
With employee pay software able to generate payments to IRD weekly, fortnightly or monthly etc it is time a bit of legislative force was used to make all employers pay IRD regularly. I know large employers can be required to pay IRD for PAYE etc more than annually but looking at this person you can see how a smaller employer who is not prepared to play by the rules can have a debt mount up.
As the daughter of two accountants i know that some scummy employers do use their employees PAYE/KS etc payments to meet cash flow problems and to bankroll expansion. Hoping on the never-never that the ship might come in with additional money to fix it up before year end. Sometimes though the ship salis away and doesn't come back.
My dad had views that this is theft from IRD and a brake on the amount of money that could be used to run the country. He told his clients this and those who were not prepared to mend their ways duirng the year were dropped.
As far as my Trust is concerned the piece of mind that this has brought has been immense and I know that the Trust pays more in tax than I would pay personally but this is a small price to pay. As a retiree I am not able to meet a mortgage to pay anyone out and staying put where I am means much to me.
I don't have a trust, and no desire to have one. The notion that people with trusts are rich pricks trying to avoid tax is a common misconception among left wingers. It's part of the whole tall poppy thing we suffer from in this country.
You are 100% correct. Unfortunately the people you are responding to have zero interest in learning anything. Their motives come from a different place.
You're probably thinking of squat poppies – those morally stunted and undeserving persons that, at every opportunity, seek to avoid their social responsibilities, and imagine that, when called out, that they are victims.
Parker either doesn't have a clue, or he is simply dishonest. It showed in the silly report he had compiled about the proportion of income tax paid by the wealthy.
And I'll quote from the article:
”The Government is trying to justify this tax hike by pointing to the most wealthy,” he said. “But those people can keep money within company structures and pay the 28% company tax rate. In reality this tax grab will hit small business owners who often hold business in trusts for legitimate reasons.”
As for the quote @9:06 pm yesterday, the Taxpayers' Union's campaigns manager Callum Purves might very well say that…
Imo there's nothing honourable about tax avoidance – absolutely nothing.
Trustee tax increase 'is response to spike in trust use to avoid tax' [18 May 2023]
Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States had broadly comparable tax regimes and trust laws to New Zealand, and all align their trustee tax rates with their top personal tax rates.
…
“The $5.7b spike in income taxed at the 33% trustee rate in the first year of the 39% top marginal tax rate is all the evidence that the Government needed to respond.”
On the other hand, the increase in the trustee tax rate to 39% with effect from 1 April 2024 should not have come as a surprise. Inland Revenue recommended the trustee rate should also be increased to 39% when the top personal income tax rate of 39% was introduced in 2021. It was only a matter of time before the trustee rate rose and the publication of Inland Revenue’s High Wealth Individual Research Project provided a clear opportunity for the Government to do so.
In the accompanying press release announcing the measure Minister of Revenue David Parker noted that new Inland Revenue information shows a near 50% increase in trust income taxable at the trustee rate from $11.4 billion in the 2020 tax year to $17.1 billion in the 2021 tax year. The top 5% of trusts with taxable income accounted for $13.3 billion or 78% of all trustee income in the 2021 tax year.
Ah, then that is the study that found "those paying the highest average effective tax rate were single, unemployed people in rented accommodation." Nice to have that cleared up.
The study done for tax consultancy OliverShaw – not a lot of "single, unemployed people in rented accommodation" on their books, to be fair.
OliveShaw – contact us today
Tax Advisory Services Tax advisory for corporate clients, corporate boards, high net worth individuals and accounting firms. https://olivershaw.co.nz/
BTW, this is about the research methodology and findings:
"Leading tax consultancy OliverShaw commissioned Australasian consulting firm, Sapere Research Group, to prepare a report on the effective rates of tax that New Zealand’s tax and benefit systems impose on the incomes of its residents. The 263-page report adopted the standard modelling methodologies used in the OECD Taxing Wages study to review the income and tax of illustrative households to calculate the average effective tax rates paid by low, medium and high-income earners in New Zealand.
“One of the questions asked is whether the very wealthy pay taxes at the same or higher rate than middle income earners,” says OliverShaw Principal, Robin Oliver. “This research shows clearly that, whether you consider taxable income or other measures, such as economic income, the answer is: ‘Yes, they do.’ The key conclusion of the Report is: “Average effective tax rates increase as the net real economic incomes of households increase.”
A far better study is the Oliver Shaw research. – LB @2:49 pm
LB, why is the Sapere study “a far better study“, in your opinion?
Tax and the economic income of the wealthy – April 2023 [PDF]
In 2022 Te Tari Taake, Inland Revenue, researched how much tax the wealthiest families in New Zealand pay compared to their economic income.
About this research
The research was done to fill in gaps in New Zealand’s understanding of the taxation and income of the wealthiest New Zealanders.
Inland Revenue gathered a lot of information from 311 of the wealthiest families in New Zealand. These families generally have a net worth of more than $50m.
This information cannot be accessed by anyone except a small project team, and will not be used for tax compliance or audit activity.
Inland Revenue also used information it already had or was publicly available
Main finding
The effective tax rate (tax paid divided by economic income) of the families we researched varied considerably, depending on how their economic income was gained from 2015 to 2021. The median (middle) effective tax rate was 8.9%.
Explanation
Compared to the rest of the population, the wealthiest people in New Zealand tend to earn more through their investments rather than from a salary or wage. The graph over the page shows the personal taxable income of the wealthiest families in New Zealand alongside
other forms of economic income.
Capital gains
Personal taxable income is only a small part of the economic income of the wealthiest New Zealand families.
Most of the capital gains made by the researched families came through increases in the value of businesses they own or control. However, economic income gained from businesses, property, and financial portfolios all had a similar impact on lowering their
effective tax rate. This group hold many of their assets in trust.
Sixty-seven percent of the economic income made by the wealthiest families in New Zealand is made in trusts.
The results in this note can be compared with those estimated by Inland Revenue’s 2023 High‑Wealth Individuals Research Project (the Inland Revenue Project), which crucially does include company taxes, trustee income, and trustee taxes in their measures. The Inland Revenue Project investigates EATRs from a cohort of New Zealand families identified as having high net worth for New Zealand, who are unlikely to be sampled by HES and, therefore, are unlikely to be included in our EATR estimates.
Together, these two projects will create a more complete picture of EATRs across the income and wealth distributions. Our HES-based modelling will provide EATRs by different income and demographic groups, including the median New Zealand family. By comparison, the Inland Revenue Project will provide insight into EATRs for the wealthiest New Zealand families. We find our most comparable population median EATRs to be consistently higher than those calculated for the high-wealth population in the Inland Revenue Project.
Your appeal to authority shows your bias. DMK rightly pointed out a possible conflict of interest that may cloud the judgement or bias the opinion of ‘the man’. This is not ‘playing the man’ per se but a good counter attack when you’ve run out of arguments and refuse to agree to disagree and insist on scoring points. Context is important, but you seem to apply it only when it suits you.
This week I’m joined by Shamubeel Eaqub, a partner at the boutique economic consultancy Sense Partners. Shamubeel is a regular commentator on economics and is the author of several books including Generation Rent. Kia ora Shamubeel, welcome to the podcast. It's been an interesting week, we've had three major reports on the true tax rate paid by the wealthy on their economic income. What have you made of all this? Are we any the wiser after these three reports?
Shamubeel Eaqub (SE): I think we are much wiser. I think we've all always suspected that the rich were not required to pay tax on a lot of their incomes. But we didn't know how much income or how much wealth there was. So, the report by IRD in particular, I think was really useful to get a much better understanding of the survey of high wealth individuals and families. Just how rich they were and just how much income they were earning from wealth alone. The report that came out the previous week from Sapere and OliverShaw Consulting I think was really poor.
I think the official report laid bare those conjectures and I think fairly largely lobbying efforts that was done in the Sapere report.
Terry Baucher (TB): Yes, the Sapere report was something, I've described it elsewhere as fairly indigestible. You had the complete difference in the conclusions the Sapere report reached that broadly speaking the wealthy were paying a fair amount of tax in line with middle income New Zealand. By contrast the reports from Treasury and Inland Revenue which show a completely different picture, with Inland Revenue concluding the median income tax rate on economic income was 8.9%, I think that raised a lot of eyebrows.
1. The IRD report is effectively a survey of 311 families. As David Reddell points out:
"we don’t tax families, we tax individuals, and most of the families studied in this report included two spouses/partners. The median individual wealth is going to have been quite a bit lower than $106 million."
2. The IRD survey didn't take into account that in NZ, tax on property is already above the OECD median. In fcat , as David Reddel notes, that was one OECD chart left out of the IRD report. Conveniently.
3. The IRD survey includes unearned (unrealised and hypothetical) income for those individuals, but exclude that same unearned income from other tax payers. David Reddell noted of Parker that
"at his talk yesterday he even seemed attracted to a capital gains tax on unrealised gains, something I’m not aware that any country does on any sort of comprehensive basis"
4. The IRD survey takes no account of the rate of inflation.
As David Reddell states:
"But it was just knowingly dishonest of IRD not to have made the adjustment and to have presented as real income what no economist will regard as real income. But it will have suited their political masters (and perhaps reflected their longstanding institutional unease with an indexed tax system)."
5. The IRD survey takes no account of improvements performed on any of those assets at the tax payers expense.
"transfer income is not treated as a negative tax in our main scenarios,"
Above that comment is table 4.1, which shows that the ETR net of transfers at each decile:
D1: -52%
D2: -55%
D3: -36%
D4: – 2%
D5: 6%
D6: 18%
D7: 21%
D8: 23%
D9: 26%
D10: 29%
The Michael Reddell critique is worth a read, but there are others. The poor quality of the IRD work smacks of political interference. Michael Reddell sums it up in this understated manner:
"Not many government department research papers – and that, we are told, is all it is – get a Foreword from a senior Cabinet minister.
My response (with help from David Reddell…
As David Reddell points out…
In fcat [sic], as David Reddel [sic] notes…
David Reddell noted of Parker that…
As David Reddell states…
The Michael Reddell critique is worth a read…
Michael Reddell sums it up in this understated manner…
LB, if you believe this wealth distribution is sustainable in the face of climate change, pandemics, food scarcity, war, environmental and economic crises et al., then I have an old car to sell you.
The point is, we can improve. And the starting point for that is to get over the awkwardness and start acknowledging the problem.
(Cough Cough)
"Hey, aaah… do you reckon we could pass something down for these guys over here?"
Sorry – getting David Parker and Michael Reddell conflated! But your pithy comment about economists and lawyers is of course quite true!
"f you think this wealth distribution is sustainable …'
Wealth and income are not the same thing and not always directly related. Nevertheless, your comment is a great segue, because the political messaging around the IRD study has cleverly conflated wealth and income to create a faux justification for more taxation.
The IRD report is fundamentally about the fairness or otherwise tax paid on income, not wealth. In fact it goes to great pains to justify itself by classifying unearned and frankly 'phantom' gains as 'income', when (ASGFIK) nowhere in the world is unearned income treated this way.
And David Parker further stokes this confusion in his opinion piece foreward:
"But these sample surveys do not provide the information we need on the true wealth – and, therefore, total income – of the wealthiest families, and the taxes they pay on that income."
Wealth and income are not the same, and Parker knows it.
Further to this, the ETR table clearly shows the tax system in NZ is already achieving significant income redistribution. We are at a point where the highest income earners pay a hugely distportionate amount of the total tax take, and a much higher ETR than low-income earners.
LB, for all the huff and puff that "the IRD report is fundamentally about the fairness or otherwise [of]tax paid on income, not wealth", isn't it up to the IRD to say what the IRD report is fundamentally about?
There are many ways to gain this money. Most people work and are paid salary or wages. Often people talk about this as their ‘income’, and it is always taxed.
Many people have investments, like savings accounts, shares or KiwiSaver. Some start businesses. Others make money by buying something of value, often property or a business, which they could sell later. Each of these things are taxed differently.
When you add up all the ways people gain the ability to spend money, that is called their ‘economic income’.
'Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.'
– from David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
Not knowing the first thing about economics or accounting (as long as I've got enough money to get by, I'm happy), I googled the term 'economic income', and apparently it's a thing – go figure.
Estimating the Distribution of Wealth in New Zealand
[April 2023; PDF[
Information on wealth is also important for understanding economic income, and by extension the distributional properties of tax and transfer systems and of other economic and social policy. The Haig-Simons definition of economic income is annual consumption plus (or minus) annual wealth gained (or lost), which can be estimated only with knowledge of the wealth distribution and how it changes over time.
There is growing evidence internationally that official statistics derived from household surveys underestimate top wealth shares (Balestra & Tonkin, 2018; Vermeulen, 2018; Lustig, 2019). In response, several alternative methods have been developed to estimate the wealth distribution, often making use of supplementary datasets, such as Rich Lists (Vermeulen, 2018) or tax data (Saez & Zucman, 2016, 2022; Smith, Zidar, & Zwick, 2023), to correct for top wealth underestimation. This paper sits within this body of literature on estimating the distribution and evolution of wealth.
High Wealth Individuals research project – Look beyond the noise [17 April 2023] Effective tax rate dependent on measure of income used
An effective tax rate measures tax paid relative to a measure of income. What is included or not included within the relevant income measure will significantly impact the stated effective tax rate. This seems obvious when spelled out but easy to get lost in the hype of the moment – many will be guilty by comparison of the results to the statutory tax rates. The problem with this is that our current tax base does not tax all gains or notions of economic income.
IR’s HWI project included four separate base measures of income:
Taxable income – Broadly the income taxpayers are currently taxed on with the addition of fringe benefits Gross cash income – Taxable income + untaxed monetary receipts + untaxed realised capital gains + net gifts and windfalls (inheritances and other lump sum payments) Comprehensive income– Gross cash income + accrued capital gains on assets not sold Economic income – Comprehensive income + imputed rental income for owner-occupied property
Hmm – while there might be bugger all diferrence between 'taxable income' and 'economic income' for much of the population most of the time, I can see why 'high wealth individuals', and their accountants, might have 'concerns' about using economic income to calculate a median effective tax rate of 9.8%.
While the prime minister has said there would be "targeted support for those that need it most with the rising cost of living", this hardly points to broader systemic change. If a cost-of-living crisis is seen as a short-term economic condition, deeper problems aren't addressed.
More fundamentally, it goes against a key purpose of these targets: to have the government set goals and make budget decisions that show it takes these targets seriously.
If this or any future budget fails to project any impact on child poverty, those targets risk becoming nothing more than a Treasury spreadsheet exercise.
"isn't it up to the IRD to say what the IRD report is fundamentally about?"
Of course. My emphasis added.
"This report describes the outcomes of the High-Wealth Individuals Research Project (the Project). It contributes to this literature by investigating how much tax a group of high-wealth New Zealand families pay relative to their income – that is, their average effective tax rates (ETRs)."
and
"This report breaks new ground as ETRs for the high-wealth families (the Project population) are calculated by combining tax administration data, public data and survey data collected specifically for this Project."
The report is a 'project' about ETR's, and as table 4.1 shows, the TWG found that higher income earners pay considerable higher ETR's than those on lower incomes.
"I googled the term 'economic income', and apparently it's a thing – go figure."
It is. But is it ever used in taxing individuals? And if the IRD or David Parker were remotely honest, they would have taken into account the economic income of every earner in NZ, not just the one class they wanted to highlight.
"I can see why 'high wealth individuals', and their accountants, might have 'concerns' about using economic income"
I don't know whether they are concerned or not. But I can see why Parker and the IRD would be far less amendable to repeating study and including the impacts of the past year or so, with asset values (particularly house prices and managed funds) having fallen.
The entire exercise was political, with a predetermined outcome built in to its methodology. It was dishonest but it got the headlines the government wanted, so perhaps they're happy.
So far you've taken issue with: the [dishonest, silly, faulty and shoddy] IRD report; Attorney-General David Parker [stokes confusion and either doesn't have a clue, or is simply dishonest]; Auckland University law professor Mark Henaghan; an article on ‘Mega Landlords: 48 per cent rise in homes owned by trustees 'suggests tax avoidance' [full of nonsense]; and our Govt [The way this government wastes money, it's a drop in the bucket.]
Imho the report on the IRD project outcomes is interesting, but anyone can read this 2-page summary [PDF] and decide for themself.
The report is a 'project' about ETR's, and as table 4.1 shows, the TWG found that higher income earners pay considerable higher ETR's than those on lower incomes. – LB
The purpose of the project is no mystery, and what Table 4.1 shows is stated clearly on page 31 of the full report.
CHAPTER 1 PROJECT PURPOSE
Introduction
1.1 This report describes the outcomes of the High-Wealth Individuals Research Project (the Project). This is a research project carried out by Inland Revenue,
on the average effective tax rates (ETRs) of high-wealth New Zealand families, based on a comprehensive definition of income.
…
Table 4.1 below shows ETRs, as calculated by the TWG, based on both personal income tax and GST. The concept of income used here (total income) is similar
to taxable income. Unlike ETRs based on economic income, these ETRs do not comprehensively take account of untaxed sources of income, such as capital
gains.
But is it [economic income] ever used in taxing individuals? – LB
Elements of economic income are used in many countries for the purposes of taxing individuals. Of the seven happiest countries (all OECD members) in 2021, six had higher Tax-to-GDP ratios than NZ (ranked 9th for happiness) – go figure.
Tax compliance, public spending and happiness in Europe
[16 December 2021; summary only]
The design of policies aimed at improving individual, corporate and the well-being of nations needs them to incorporate elements of tax compliance as an objective that has economic and social implications. Individuals and corporates contribute to a fairer and more equitable society through compliance with tax obligations.
I don't know whether they ['high wealth individuals', and their accountants] are concerned [about using 'economic income' to calculate effective tax rates] or not. – LB
Although it is desirable to improve our understanding of both the equity and efficiency of the tax and benefit systems, it is also important to recognise the difficulties and considerable costs of obtaining the information required to develop a more detailed understanding of those effects.
Those costs include the potential unintended effects that such requests for information could have on savings and investments decisions (e.g. by creating a more uncertain environment for investment due to concerns that the government might be considering the introduction of comprehensive taxes on capital gains or wealth).
The reasons for concern about using 'economic income' to calculate the effective tax rates that the very wealthy 'labour' under is obvious.
Our results show that the average ETRs for the Project population, based on economic income, are significantly lower than the average personal taxable income ETR, of around 30%, for the Project population. When all sources of income and tax (except GST) are included, the family median ETR is 8.9% and the weighted-mean ETR is 9.8% (these are measures of the average ETR over the Project period).
Some wealthy individuals think the ETRs calculated using 'economic income' are problematic, and I agree with them.
"for all the huff and puff that "the IRD report is fundamentally about the fairness or otherwise [of] tax paid on income, not wealth", isn't it up to the IRD to say what the IRD report is fundamentally about?"
I answered you with a reference from the report itself.
"Some wealthy individuals think the ETRs calculated using 'economic income' are problematic, and I agree with them."
What is wealthy? Are these the 300 or so families who the report failed to recognise are actually taxed as individuals? If so. which ones? If not, who are these 'wealthy' people who are concerned? Michael Reddell doesn't appear to be wealthy.
"Maybe this excerpt from the Sapere report will help."
Not really. The accountants will be rubbing their hands together at the prospect of a new and complex taxation regime.
The concerns about changes causing a reduction in investment are valid. When low decile income earners enjoy a negative ETR, and higher income earners are carrying an increasingly disproportionate share of the tax burden, money will leave the country. It's another reason the aforesaid accountants will be loving this.
“The notion that people with trusts are rich pricks trying to avoid tax is a common misconception among left wingers.” – LB
Don’t know about “pricks”, but more likely rich than poor, surely?
What is wealthy? Are these the 300 or so families who the report failed to recognise are actually taxed as individuals? If so. which ones? If not, who are these 'wealthy' people who are concerned?
Hmm – maybe a mix of Kiwis, 'concerned' for different reasons?
For example, individuals in the 41 families who wouldn't cooperate with the IRD project, might be 'concerned' about over-taxation.
The big money up against Parker [27 April 2023]
Nearly 12 per cent (41) of the 352 families [each] with an estimated net worth of at least $20 million did not agree to respond even though the Tax Administration Act makes such surveys compulsory.
The survey started in November 2021, and the questioning was over by May last year.
As early as November 2021, there were reports that high-net-worth individuals were seeking legal advice to avoid having to participate.
At about the same time, substantial donations from some of the country’s wealthiest individuals began to flow to the National Party.
Inevitably it pitches the ordinary taxpayer against the very wealthy and National leader Christopher Luxon yesterday defended the ultra-wealthy. “It’s not the wealthy that are the problem here,” he said.
[Imagine that – National leader Luxon defending the ultra-wealthy – whatever next?!]
The IRD study found that the 311 high net-worth families had paid, on average, 8.9 per cent of their economic income (as distinct from their wages and salaries income) in tax.
While other wealthy Kiwis are concerned about under-taxation. You may not agree with wealthy Kiwis who want to pay more tax, but everyone can appreciate their point of view.
Group of wealthy New Zealanders ask to be taxed more in open letter to Government [11 May 2023]
A sobering report last month showed the wealthiest New Zealanders were paying taxes at half the rate of the average middle-class bracket.
…
In Germany, people who earn €277,826 (about NZ$479,000) or more pay a top tax rate of 45 percent. In comparison, the Netherlands' top income tax rate of nearly 50 percent kicks in far lower at €73,031 (NZ$126,000).
New Zealand's top income tax rate is 39 percent on $180,000 and above.
The letter acknowledges ongoing issues that "will require a bigger tax contribution from those who can afford it," including future-proofing infrastructure from natural disasters such as Cyclone Gabrielle, and helping fund social services at a time where one in seven kiwi children live in poverty.
It is in direct response to two reports released by Inland Revenue and Treasury on April 26, which found that 311 of Aotearoa's richest families pay an effective tax rate of 9.4%, less than half of the 20.2% rate paid by the general population.
Diana Crossan, a former high level public servant and ex-Retirement Commissioner, is a spokesperson for the campaign is. She said the New Zealand tax system doesn't collect enough money.
"We collect in our taxes somewhere around 32% of GDP and in European countries, Germany for example, it is 38%, the Netherlands 40%.
"We just don't pay the same amount of taxes as they do in other countries and we expect to have the same health system, and the same roads, the same clear rivers, the same housing and so on."
Les Mills executive director Phillip Mills said the current tax system was “broken”.
“We’ve been focused too much for too long on paying lower and lower taxes. We need to focus more on having a world-class education system and not having people living in poverty and children coming to school not having enough to eat.”
Mills said wealthy people should be paying more than they were. He would be in favour of both a capital gains tax and wealth tax.
He says it is “bad for the economy to be tax-advantaging asset classes like residential property”.
Sir Ian Taylor said there was so much talk about tax being a burden and not enough people thought about the benefits it could deliver for better access to healthcare, education and infrastructure.
Tax has been a topic of discussion in recent weeks following the Inland Revenue department’s research which found the wealthiest New Zealanders paid 8.9% tax on their incomes, on average.
A separate released by Treasury found that the country’s wealthiest 1% own more than a quarter of the country’s wealth.
"Don’t about “pricks”, but more likely rich than poor, surely?"
Somewhere in between.
"The top five percent of trusts with some taxable income in the 2021 tax year accounted for 78 percent of all trustee income ($13.3 billion out of $17.1 billion). "
As others have noted here, most trusts are family trusts, set up as vehicles to protect assets for future generations. The 'rich prick with a trust' attutide is alive and well, and ignorant.
"For example, individuals in the 41 families who wouldn't cooperate with the IRD project, might be 'concerned' about over-taxation."
Might be. Might be concerned at the government using (to quote Michael Reddell) the "coercive powers of the state" to prepare a politically motivated attack on success.
"Some of the wealthiest Kiwis in Aotearoa know they pay lower tax rates than most – and have signed a letter explicitly asking to pay more."
There's nothing stopping them. If any of them are reading this, the Treasury bank account is 03-0049-0000327-25. Fill your boots.
Now, how does one get on that 'letter'? Not by being wealthy. It's an Oxfam/Tax Justice Aotearoa publicity stunt. If you're interested you too can self identify as wealthy at An Open Letter on Tax (sharingwealth.nz).
"Don’t [know] about “pricks”, but more likely rich than poor, surely?" – DMK
Somewhere in between. – LB
"The top five percent of trusts with some taxable income in the 2021 tax year accounted for 78 percent of all trustee income ($13.3 billion out of $17.1 billion)."
"Somewhere in between" – cute. So what's the value of income from trusts set up by Kiwis living in poverty? Take your time.
The 'rich prick with a trust' attutide [sic] is alive and well, and ignorant.
You seem very prickly
"For example, individuals in the 41 families who wouldn't cooperate with the IRD project, might be 'concerned' about over-taxation." – DMK
Might be. Might be concerned at the government using (to quote Michael Reddell) the "coercive powers of the state" to prepare a politically motivated attack on success. – LB
Is there a practical diff between concerns about over-taxation, and concern about politically motivated attacks on financial success?
Those such as Seymour, Luxon and yourself, who leap to the defence of poor put-upon wealthy Kiwis, no doubt have the purest of motivations. It must be truely awful being a wealthy Kiwi, when so many people want to tax your wealth.
The point is, we can improve. And the starting point for that is to get over the awkwardness and start acknowledging the problem.
(Cough Cough)
"Hey, aaah… do you reckon we could pass something down for these guys over here?"
Some Kiwis simply can't stomach even the thought of contributing more money to our Govt by way of tax – ‘unfair‘, they cry, Unfair!
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
We can scratch deeper if you want.
If you like, but is there any need? Various motives are clear enough. For many wealthy Kiwis, current tax settings are barely tolerable – they already feel over-taxed, and inequality is certainly not their problem. Other wealthy Kiwis take a different view – maybe they're all silly, confused, dishonest, faulty and shoddy?
A taxing exercise for NZ’s wealthiest 0.01 percent
[28 April 2023]
Tax specialists OliverShaw published a report last week finding the more New Zealanders earned, the more they paid in tax – that those earning above $180,000 made up 21.2 percent of taxpayers and paid 68.5 percent of income tax in the 2021 tax year.
But I call BS. For a start, it selectively omitted the impact of GST and excises, which weigh more heavily on those on lower incomes. An earlier IRD report concluded the wealthiest Kiwis paid an effective tax rate of less than 12 percent.
Somewhere in between rich and poor does not include people in poverty, does it?
"Is there a practical diff between concerns about over-taxation, and concern about politically motivated attacks on financial success?"
Of course there is. For example, I'm concerned about both, but for different reasons. I'm concerned about high income earners paying a disproportionate share of tax, because NZ desperately needs investment. I'm concerned about politically motivated attacks on financial success because they are part of an attitude of mediocracy that is prevalent in NZ.
"If you like, but is there any need? "
Well that depends on you. You posited the idea that this letter was the work of 'wealthy' NZ'ers, which is clearly untrue. Doesn't that concern you?
The trustee can distribute, to the beneficiaries, as much, or as little, of the trust's income as he chooses. Only undistributed income is taxed at the trust rate: formerly 33%, now 39%. Distributed income is taxed at the beneficiary's rate, which can be as low as 10.5%.
"Only undistributed income is taxed at the trust rate: formerly 33%, now 39%."
Yes, that's what I've been saying. In my experience most family trusts distribute all of the income annually already. (Many of those are below the 39% threshold). Perversely, if this tax rate change prompts even more to fully distribute, and to beneficiaries on tax rates lower than 33%, it's entirely possible the government won't draw anywhere near the level of additional taxation they are forecasting.
But think of the useful mental health outlet this thread has provided for the 'its not fair' brigade who lump all people with trusts into the category of rich pricks buying mega lots of houses.
Forced birther poured $120k of his own money into an effort to force a recount of a referendum affirming abortion rights, forcing him to cheap-out on the airworthiness of the light aircraft he was rebuilding. Which then crashed and killed him.
A few months before the mid terms…(a) Chicago billionaire had gifted anti-abortion Supreme Court fixer Leonard Leo the largest known tranche of dark money in US history: $1.6 billion
The article goes on to say that that is enough money to fund two of the hugely influential conservative Heritage Foundations plus another sizeable organisation without touching the principle.
Leo is a proud "Knight of the Order of Malta" and his long career has been motivated by a fanatical opposition to women's rights to reproductive choice
What's coming for tens of millions of women is a return to the 19thC.
Directors of women’s health care services at Idaho hospitals are bracing for what’s next: 75 of 117 Idaho OB-GYNs recently surveyed by the Idaho Coalition for Safe Reproductive Health Care said they were considering leaving the state. Of those, nearly 100% — 73 of 75 — cited Idaho’s restrictive abortion laws.
An exodus could affect broader medical coverage for women who rely on OB-GYNs for routine and urgent gynecological care unrelated to pregnancy, like menstrual disorders, endometriosis, and pelvic pain.
Idaho is one of 15 states that have implemented strict abortion laws since last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. And while there is no official nationwide count yet, anecdotal evidence shows that women’s health specialists from states where abortion is criminalized are beginning to relocate to places like Washington state, which has strong abortion rights laws.
Alan-When a cyclone causes 10 billion plus expenses that need fixing asap it is not possible to cut government expenditure unless you are proposing mother of all budget cuts to benefits and other payments that go to the less well off.
If you are getting prescriptions for drugs that are affected by Robertson's proposal there is not a single household that needs to be paying more than $100/year.
An entire household can't save more than $100/year under the scheme even if you were a family with 6 kids and were getting 20 prescriptions/month. Every single one after the first 20 in a year is free,
Rent goes up regardless of economic conditions. It doesn't matter if it's pharmacy fees or cheap offshore labour, rent always and inexorably goes up.
One thing the landlord class is very good at is extracting every last cent out of tenants, for profit. Pity they are not so good at providing housing safe from illness and fire. It's business, you know!
It's all good, renters are used to being abused as second class citizens.
Orcas have attacked and sunk a third boat off the Iberian coast of Europe, and experts now believe the behavior is being copied by the rest of the population.
Three orcas (Orcinus orca), also known as killer whales, struck the yacht on the night of May 4 in the Strait of Gibraltar, off the coast of Spain, and pierced the rudder. "There were two smaller and one larger orca," skipper Werner Schaufelberger told the German publication Yacht. "The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side."
Yes Joe90, snap. I had noticed two or three reports of whale attacks in the past six months, and was wondering whether it was Nature fighting back with tooth and fin against humans and that global warming shit.
I have read elsewhere a story where orcas and humans co-operated over decades in fish drives in a harbour somewhere on the Canadian west coast, I think. Until the humans stuffed it up one year somehow, and the pact disintegrated.
A fabulous sight one autumn afternoon years ago was watching a pod of orcas playing around in the Waitematā harbour.
– Has a Non Profit called Child's Health Defence which paid for more than half of the ads on Facebook lying about vaccines, and was then barred from instagram
A deep dive into Jr's dangerous, dishonest lunacy.
/
The only ‘herd immunity’ we need is against abysmal candidates like RFK Jr. He has spent decades as a professional liar and is not the kind of person who should be anywhere near power.
[…]
Let’s establish at the outset that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is someone who lies constantly in ways that seriously endanger the public. In fact, his lies have probably directly caused people to get sick, and possibly die.
To those who accept the scientific consensus around the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, someone like Kennedy can appear to be a mere “nut” or “crank.” But it’s important to understand that anti-vaxxers like Kennedy aren’t just “crazy.” They’re skilled manipulators of statistics who are great at fooling people using pseudoscience. Waving them away as
Trump is too, so not sure of the relevance. Both crazy in different ways so 'you takes your chances and you makes your choice' between whatever flavour you like.
As I have long told my US cousin the choice of the President of the US is far too important to be given to Americans…… when Trump got in we agreed that anyone other than Americans, preferably NZers, should have been given the vote for the US Pres & that way they might have avoided Trump. She's a Democrat but who knows, she's not an anti vaxxer.
Her father on the other hand used to tell all his family here in NZ that he would be coming back to NZ each time a Labour Govt got in, in the UK. But of course he never did.
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New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
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This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zealand-chess-champion-sue-maroroa-jones-dies-at-32-after-giving-birth-to-second-child/I66QPHLFCJADHJOBF4K2OVYBOA/
Very sad
she was a good person
Yes Barfly, our chess player son is sad as well. A complete shock.![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
I don't know if others have already commented on this, but it is brave and wonderful that in the budget the tax rate for trusts was raised from 33% to 39%, the same as the top income tax rate, to fix the rort/anomaly where trustees used trusts to only pay 33%.
Luxon will doubtless change this back-Standard readers need watch for the Nats policy position on this.
Agreed that is a positive takeaway from the budget…but it only addresses one part of the trust tax-evasion problem..
The operation of those trusts needs to be more transparent…
Agree with that Philip
is that income tax?
Trust income, in short if you found yourself in the 39c tax bracket you would once you reached it put the money into a trust which would pay 33c. For it to be a worthwhile work around you needed to earn 300k and up
so people whose assets are in a trust, and are earning income from that, but whose income would otherwise be in a lower tax bracket, will pay 39% on the trust income?
Yes unless they disperse the income from the trust in which case it will be paid at the recipients nominal tax rate.
ok, that makes more sense. So people who have a trust but aren't high inome earners, and who aren't trying to rort the system, can just take out the income each year and pay their normal tax on that rather than the 39%.
There is no 'rort'. Beneficiaries don't benefit from a different tax rate in the trust because as soon as they are paid a distribution, their personal tax rate kicks in.
so are Cricklewood and BG wrong when they say that the income being earned by the trust was being taxed at 33% but if it was personal income wealthy people would be paying 39%?
In the next financial year income coming into the trust will be taxed at 39%. Are you saying that if that stays in the trust until the following year but then is paid out that the beneficiary gets a rebate (assuming they pay less than 39%)?
In answer to question 1, ultimately what beneficiaries pay comes down to the nature of the distribution and the personal tax rate of the beneficiaries.
Increasing the trust tax rate to 39% is meaningless, because trustees will simply distribute all profits in the year they are earned (as most do now), and beneficiaries will pay whatever they pay, somewhere between 39% and zip.
It can be a rort. Parents who don’t have a trust have to meet the cost of their child's upkeep from their own income. With a trust, however, a child beneficiary's upkeep cost can be recovered from the trust, saving the parents a fair bit of money.
It would be useful to have legislation making it illegal to pass income to a child (or to anybody for that matter), through the use of a trust, without good reason.
how does that save the parents money?
2. School Fees paid by a trust are distributions to the beneficiaries, and so attract the recipients rate of income tax.
3. Funds used to establish a trust have already been subject to the individuals rate of income tax.
there is no rort.
I have friends who set up a trust so that they could hide income so that they could claim working for families. My understanding is that this is a widespread rort
If they are beneficiaries of the trust, the IRD will cut straight through the trust and effectively void the transactions. It’s the same scenario as gifting to avoid the cost of rest home care.
a lot of that stuff got tightened up ages ago.
No rorts, of course – just an example of NZ punching above its weight.
Too much of a 'good' thing?
Re David Parker's claims – https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20-05-2023/#comment-1950631
Re the rest of it – you need to read up on foreign trusts. A clue is found in your last reference and talks about the criteria for a foreign trust only being tax free when neither the settlor nor beneficiaries lived, or derived income from New Zealand.
For a few wealthy Kiwis, tax avoidance is a way of life. Sad, if you really think about it – maybe it gives them some small pleasure?
Is the only real problem with tax evasion ‘getting caught’? So many thrilling 'stories', and this is a great opportunity to post them here. Will there be more opportunities? I do hope so.
If you believe that "the use of trusts" and "tax avoidance" are whole different conversations, then I have an old car to sell you![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
Seems fair to me – have NAct promised to reverse it yet? Not paying your fair share of tax is an optional perk of wealth the world over.
Re tax evasion:
https://www.ird.govt.nz/managing-my-tax/tax-crime/tell-us-about-evasion-or-fraud/report-anonymously-ir873
Just the one, as far as I can tell.
"If you believe that "the use of trusts" and "tax avoidance" are whole different conversations, then I have an old car to sell you"
They are completely different. Evidence of tax avoidance is not evidence that trusts are used for tax evasion.
Nope. The clue is in the title of the article about that “silly“, “faulty and shoddy” (in your opinion) report, specifically – "spike in trust use to avoid tax."
Why might you be finding that report so difficult to comprehend?
https://www.ird.govt.nz/managing-my-tax/tax-crime/tell-us-about-evasion-or-fraud/report-anonymously-ir873
"Nope. The clue is in the title of the article about that “silly“, “faulty and shoddy” report, specifically – "spike in trust use to avoid tax.""
Your link is to an article that includes this pearler:
Auckland University law professor Mark Henaghan said the increase was down to one thing – a growing awareness of how trusts could be used to reduce tax bills."
Seriously? The good professor ought to know there are a) many reasons people put homes in trusts that have nothing to do with tax, and b) any use of trusts to lower tax could easily be mirrored by other vehicles. Find better sources, Drowsy.
It appears you are firmly of the opinion that "the use of trusts" and "tax avoidance" "are completely different", so let's agree to disagree. Others can make up their own mind after considering the evidence.
"For a few wealthy Kiwis, tax avoidance is a way of life. Sad, if you really think about it – maybe it gives them some small pleasure?"
Do any of those examples include the use of trusts? We can have a whole different conversation about tax avoidance if you want.
Having a trust is not always evidence of an attempt to rort or tax evasion. Taking advantage of Trusts and companies set-ups is not prima facie an indication of wanting to rort.
It is only a rort really when tax is evaded.
The financial planning for tradespeople can often include trusts and companies. The prudent financial planning for people who have children from a prior relationship and/or assets from a prior relationship often use the Trust avenue to protect the children should a subsequent relationship break down. I mean why should a subsequent husband/wife be entitled to assets from a prior husband/parent who worked so hard?
Trust have always paid a higher tax rate so keeping assets for children in this way is not all beer and skittles. Neither is making payouts to beneficiaries, despite what is being said here. (There is pretty onerous record keeping involved) Many trusts have assets that are not liquid and cannot do that anyway. Many settlors of Trusts keep the assets within the trust and so any earnings are taxed at a higher rate.
I have no problem with a higher rate for tax for Trusts but long term it is not going to yield big bucks….better to spend the time and money on ways to catch the evading group (ie the large group paying less than a person on the lowest income rates, or to look at a capital gains or wealth tax or even a modest death duties regime.
I appreciate railing at the so-called tax and Trust bogey does fit in with the depression inducing cry 'its not fair' but ultimately it gets us nowhere.
"Having a trust is not always evidence of an attempt to rort or tax evasion."
"I appreciate railing at the so-called tax and Trust bogey does fit in with the depression inducing cry 'its not fair' but ultimately it gets us nowhere."
To Shanreagh…
Good comment.
"And there is this…"
That article is full of nonsense. Take this statement:
"Because trust income can be spread across a number of beneficiaries, who are often lower earners, the income is often taxed at a lower bracket, he says."
The author fails to understand that exactly the same result can be achieved without a trust.
Superb work Drowsy.
And there is this…
Which I have linked previously…The whole Mega landlord series from Stuff (who I actually rate) lifts the rock from the land"lord". Exposing what has happened to NZ.
Shame….
If a property is transferred to a trust the income from that property is taxed at a much lower rate if the beneficiaries are children, than would be the case if the parents themselves continued to own the properties, and paid tax on the income from those properties at their own tax rate; assuming of course that the children's tax rates are much lower than the parents (which of course is normally the case). The parents can then charge the children for their upkeep, and be compensated thereby from their children's trust income.
It should be mandated that parents support their children themselves rather than turning that support over to a trust.
Wrong. There are rules around what can be distributed to children under 16, and all distributions at balance date are taxed at the trust rate of tax.
"parents support their children themselves"
Well there goes working for families.
Incorrect. If the assets are held within the trust it does not matter who the proposed beneficiaries are and what their individual tax circumstances are.
So a Family Trust with a range of possible beneficiaries pays tax at the tax rate for trusts, now the highest rate. The process for allocating to beneficiaries is time- and document- intensive & the benefits so marginal, for my family Trust anyway. This is because many of the beneficiaries the Trust could allocate to now have marginal tax rates above the lowest personal tax rate, that we have not bothered.
NB One of a common way of avoding tax is simply not to pay PAYE for employees or FBT etc. While these crimes, when caught, are heavily penalised, that the financial state of many of these people ensure that tax to pay and penalties can be repaid on the 'never, never' or even if bankruptcy ensues may be paid a low rates in the $$$$
And even then, any distributions to beneficiaries attract tax at their personal tax rate, so at the top end, the 39c applies eventually anyway. Trust income can only escape the higher rate if it is retained in the Trust. The lifting of the rate is largely symbolic.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/budget-no-major-new-taxes-but-80b-more-tax-revenue
Looks a lot more than simply ‘symbolic’ to me.
And:
So the change is forecast to contribute just 1.75% of the total additional tax NZ'ers will pay according to Treasury forecasts.
Stuffed up the block formatting, so re-posting rest of comment…
2. Total Trustee income in 2021 was $17.1bn.
Trustee tax rate to increase to 39% | Budget 2023 | Deloitte New Zealand
So the estimated $350m is just 2.05% of total trustee income from 2 years ago.
3.
Tax rate change enacted along with big-brother information gathering powers | Tax Alert | December 2020 | Deloitte New Zealand
350 million dollars a year (7 billion in 20 years) pays for a lot of cycleways and public transport.
The way this government wastes money, it's a drop in the bucket.
Indeed, nothing ‘symbolic’ about $350m a year. The “m” is not a symbol but a prefix that means one has to add another six zeros to get the real figure, in real dollars.
Not going after this money would indeed be tantamount to ‘waste’, so you should be fully behind it, yet you are not, which is rather odd and counter-intuitive.
My comment was a specific reply and specifically mentioned the nearly $6b income a year by high-earning New Zealanders. (NB the “b” prefix means that you add nine zeros to the figure) So, why are you diverting, again? Instead of putting up a decent argument you divert and/or post a wall of selective quotes or links, which is your MO here.
You seem to have a real bee in your bonnet about the increase in trustee tax but no compelling counter-arguments!? Go figure!
"My comment was a specific reply and specifically mentioned the nearly $6b income a year by high-earning New Zealanders."
My comment referred to the lifting of the trust tax rate as symbolic. I then went on to demonstrate precisely how insignificant the $35m is in the context of the budget in which it was introduced. Your $6bn is irrelevant and a diversion.
"Not going after this money would indeed be tantamount to ‘waste’…"
No, it really wouldn't. As I have pointed out, there is a real chance this change could raise little additional or even less revenue.
Correction: $350m.
Freudian slip
I see, you believe you’re a clever troll.
It’s neither irrelevant nor a diversion (nice try!) but at the core of the Government decision:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/trustee-tax-change-improve-fairness
Well, if you keep dropping zeroes it will become insignificant. However, your incorrect $35m (the correct figure still is $350m) is neither ‘symbolic’ nor ‘insignificant’ and you have ‘demonstrated’ only that you’re a disingenuous troll.
Only four days ago you argued (https://thestandard.org.nz/nationals-policy-machine-is-a-thing-to-behold/#comment-1950174) about much smaller amounts being wasteful:
On the one hand, $330k is wasteful but OTOH, $35m or $350m is ‘symbolic’ and ‘insignificant’!?
For someone who doesn’t have a Trust nor the desire to have one (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20-05-2023/#comment-1950619) you have an awful lot to say about this topic, which raises the question what your agenda is with this?
Good commenters here are wasting their time engaging with you, which I have noticed and noted before.
"It’s neither irrelevant nor a diversion (nice try!) but at the core of the Government decision:"
The estimated benefit from the change is $350m. I demonstrated clearly that is immaterial (and therefore symbolic) when I compared this amount to three seperate benchmarks…a) the total amount of additional tax estimated over the next four years, b) the total trustee income from 2021, and c) the % of top income earners the new 'top tax rate' would effect.
I have also demonstrated (if you had bothered to read through the thread) that the $350m may end up being much less or even zero.
You either don't have the understanding of this subject to engage in an informed matter, or you're just being a dick for the sake of it. I'll go with the latter. It's in your MO.
[You want us to believe that $6b yearly income by high-earning New Zealanders and that could net $350m in extra tax could magically disappear and become zero even, which would indeed be ‘insignificant’ as you claim. High-earning means that they are or should already be paying 39% tax on any profit, be it from a Trust or elsewhere, and regardless of how they distribute the profit. The fact that Trustee tax was 33% strongly suggests (!) that those high-earning individuals saw a strong enough reason in moving about $6b of their yearly income into Trusts. If this wasn’t a legal loophole used by high-earning New Zealanders then I’d agree that the move is ‘symbolic’. However, the numbers suggest this to be unlikely and implausible. Have the Opposition declared yet that they will repeal the decision? If not, why not? Stop trolling and stop dicking around – only because I’ve been busy you’ve got this far with your trollish claims (e.g. your BS allegation about this government wasting money on “a movie about a Green party MP” here: https://thestandard.org.nz/nationals-policy-machine-is-a-thing-to-behold/#comment-1950174). This is your warning – Incognito]
Mod note
"Good commenters here are wasting their time engaging with you, which I have noticed and noted before."
Really? Like Shanreagh? Red Logix? Both of whom have taken the same position as I have during this thread.
No
"You want us to believe that $6b yearly income by high-earning New Zealanders and that could net $350m in extra tax could magically disappear and become zero even, which would indeed be ‘insignificant’ as you claim."
Well, on the issue of significance, I'll quote Grant Robertson, who seems to agree with my assessment:
Budget 2023: No ‘Major’ New Taxes But $80b More Tax Revenue | Newsroom
On the issue of the $350m, I'll again leave this to Grant Robertson:
Budget 2023: No ‘Major’ New Taxes But $80b More Tax Revenue | Newsroom
A small amount of NZ'ers. The vast majority of trusts aren't set up by the rich, and only a small number of trusts will pay the extra tax.
That should have rung alarm bells right there. Most trusts are for the benefit of less than wealthy NZ'ers, who will simply distribute all income (rather than potentially retaining some income in the trust and paying a higher tax rate) to beneficiaries on a lower tax rate.
And here's the kicker…the $350m is exactly 6% of the $6bn, meaning they are suggesting they will collect the extra tax on every cent of that income. They are dreaming.
[I can’t see anywhere where commenters here on TS and/or Grant Robertson said or implied that $350m extra tax intake is ‘insignificant’ and ‘symbolic’. It would indeed raise serious questions as to why Robertson would have made the decision if this were the case. My take is that you are twisting words & meanings & intentions, as per usual, to score your points. Essentially, you want us to believe that those high-earning New Zealanders – and you keep diverting away from this specific sub-category – shifted nearly $6b of their yearly income into Trusts and they will now hand over control of those Trust assets/income to others just to avoid paying any tax on it (“even zero”!? The mind just boggles at your naivety! Time will tell how that $6b of yearly income will be taxed or ‘vanish’ from the IRD radar, as you seem to want us believe. Frankly, I have enough of your gaslighting days here on TS and I reaffirm your Mod note and don’t want to waste anymore of my Mod time on this – Incognito]
Mod note
"I can’t see anywhere where commenters here on TS and/or Grant Robertson said or implied that $350m extra tax intake is ‘insignificant’ and ‘symbolic’. "
Re Grant Robertson:
You didn't look very hard. From my comment you were moderating:
'Pales in comparison'.
Re: Other contributors:
I didn't claim they "implied that $350m extra tax intake is ‘insignificant’ and ‘symbolic’". Look back at comment https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20-05-2023/#comment-1950730.
There are a number of other contributors here who have concurred with a variety of opinions I have proffered across this thread.
"you want us to believe that those high-earning New Zealanders – and you keep diverting away from this specific sub-category – shifted nearly $6b of their yearly income into Trusts and they will now hand over control of those Trust assets/income to others just to avoid paying any tax on it (“even zero”!?)
Tax is not paid on the assets in a trust, or even necessarily by those who exercise control over those assets. Tax is paid on the income from the trust (either by the trust or by beneficiaries on distribution). That $6bn you refer to will simply find its way to beneficiaries with a lower tax rate, or into other vehicles.
[I’m not too surprised that you continue to waste my time and keep digging & doubling down and now denying your own comments aka gaslighting, twisting & turning.
Have it your way: take 10 days off for ignoring several warnings about trolling and wasting moderator time – Incognito]
Mod note
But if you don't need any operational income from the Trust for personal use like paying for groceries, rent, power etc., you can leave the money in the Trust. And the Trust re-invests it and earns more income at the same discounted tax rate, which you then re-invest in a spiral of increasing wealth accumulation. The accumulated wealth might not be dispersed for years, or to the next generation, where lower personal tax rates might apply.
The money-grubbing classes are very good at this sort of game – they always find a way of getting an advantage over others. Like a sewage leak, the rest of us have only a vague, passing sense that something whiffs a bit, then you pull up the floorboards and realise the whole edifice is rotten.
Ultimately the money is distributed and tax paid. Anyone can set up a trust. Do you have one? If it is so beneficial, and you don’t, why not?
If it is so beneficial, and you don’t, why not?
Because it is essentially a tax dodge. There are many shady loopholes in the tax system: this is one of them. Unfortunately the measure introduced in the budget will not achieve much because it doesn't address the main problem.
Trusts are not a tax dodge. That ship sailed a long time ago, like the use of gifting to avoid or minimise rest home costs.
Trusts are primarily used now for asset protection, particularly in conjunction with pre-nups.
When did the ship sail? How long ago and what were the reasons for her departure? In a similar analogy, the reasons for emigration by ship in the 19th century ranged from a search for freedom and personal advancement to colonial exploitation.
Yonks ago. For years (from 2010) the highest personal tax rate was 33%, so there was no tax advantage. Before that – from the 1980's through to 2000 the highest personal tax rate was also 33%.
Look at it this way: if trusts were abolished and everyone paid the correct amount of tax on the income they derived from their assets – rents, dividends, profits, etc., would you consider they were being unfairly treated? No? But that is what is happening when income is passed to beneficiaries whose tax rate is lower. And “protecting assets” is often just a weasel word for diddling one’s creditors, including the IRD.
Yes. There are some legitimate uses for trusts, but when there is a stampede to form trusts when the top tax rate is increased from 33% to 39%, one can hardly be blamed for being suspicious.
"Asset protection" is just a weasel word for tax evasion.
No it isn't. Asset protection is precisely what it says. People with assets (eg property) put them into family trusts to protect them from matrimonial property claims, not tax.
No it isn't. Asset protection is precisely what it says. People with assets (eg property) put them into family trusts to protect them from matrimonial property claims, not tax.
Oh – is this where you pretend that someone so ungenerous as not to share with an intimate partner embraces the IRD like a soulmate and gives them everything they're due?
Oh you sweet summer child! Naive even by the standards of the irredeemably stupid Right.
"Oh – is this where you pretend that someone so ungenerous as not to share with an intimate partner embraces the IRD like a soulmate and gives them everything they're due?
Not necessarily just partners or spouses. Sometimes people establish trusts to protect assets from future partners of their children. You should read up on it.
Zoom……if the so-called 'intimate partner' is so ungenerous to find a new partner while still married to the first and claims the assets built up by a prior spouse/partner for the children of that marriage.
You do not appear to know what happens on marriage break-up. I had to get another mortgage to pay my former husband out. Payment being made as a single person is very different from two working and being able to pay and is pretty poor when he had not contributed half of the value….
But you go the way with the fluffy ducks and the perfect marital bliss. It does not work that way sometimes in the real world and some of us in the real world do actually want to live in the homes we built up.
Beautiful analogy.
I can smell the aroma from here
I somehow don't think that paying the higest rate of tax is a discounted rate!
Not all people who set up a Family Trust fall into the categories you are throwing around. I worked hard to save and get ahead and after paying out a husband who was quite happy to take half of the 'wealth' in the home I had on marriage and which he moved into I saw sense and set up a Trust to protect myself and family. I had to re mortgage the house and pay for it again. This was with all the care to separate our earnings at the time.
But you go on slamming people who have Family Trusts.
It has meant that that the earnings in the Trust are taxed at much higher rates than I would have had if I was earning but the Trust has protected me and what I have worked hard for.
The real problem, as opposed to the philosphical problem that some see of so-called 'rich pricks' and their 'mega property deals', like me apparently, is people like this:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/132108201/company-director-jailed-after-kiwisavers-left-owing-1-million
This bloke did not pay lawful deductions made on behalf of IRD for employees kiwisaver etc and there does not appear to be any chance that he will. I mean going to prison is hardly likely to get the lost money into employees KS accounts.
I think IRD is onto the Trust tax dodgers quite promptly whereas with people like this it can take at least a year, if PAYE is paid annually for something to be seen as amiss.
With employee pay software able to generate payments to IRD weekly, fortnightly or monthly etc it is time a bit of legislative force was used to make all employers pay IRD regularly. I know large employers can be required to pay IRD for PAYE etc more than annually but looking at this person you can see how a smaller employer who is not prepared to play by the rules can have a debt mount up.
As the daughter of two accountants i know that some scummy employers do use their employees PAYE/KS etc payments to meet cash flow problems and to bankroll expansion. Hoping on the never-never that the ship might come in with additional money to fix it up before year end. Sometimes though the ship salis away and doesn't come back.
My dad had views that this is theft from IRD and a brake on the amount of money that could be used to run the country. He told his clients this and those who were not prepared to mend their ways duirng the year were dropped.
As far as my Trust is concerned the piece of mind that this has brought has been immense and I know that the Trust pays more in tax than I would pay personally but this is a small price to pay. As a retiree I am not able to meet a mortgage to pay anyone out and staying put where I am means much to me.
Liberty….why are you getting so get up if the change from 33 to 39 makes no difference? Methinks thou doth protest too much.
I don't have a trust, and no desire to have one. The notion that people with trusts are rich pricks trying to avoid tax is a common misconception among left wingers. It's part of the whole tall poppy thing we suffer from in this country.
You are 100% correct. Unfortunately the people you are responding to have zero interest in learning anything. Their motives come from a different place.
Wrong Red….read my link below. Billions are being laundered through trusts to avoid tax.
Agreed.
Why do people who are not rich pricks use trusts? Why on earth do trusts exist?
Most people with trusts are not rich.
Budget 2023: No ‘Major’ New Taxes But $80b More Tax Revenue | Newsroom
Trusts exist these days mainly for asset protection, often in conjunction with 'prenuptual' agreements.
You're probably thinking of squat poppies – those morally stunted and undeserving persons that, at every opportunity, seek to avoid their social responsibilities, and imagine that, when called out, that they are victims.
Tall poppies cheerfully bow to the common good.
Who are these 'squat poppies'? Care to name one?
The litmus test is the claim to be a tall poppy.
Real tall poppies have no need to make that claim.
Not true Liberty. Read this.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/132079936/trustee-tax-increase-is-response-to-spike-in-trust-use-to-avoid-tax&ved=2ahUKEwj_-umru4P_AhXQklYBHYHnBhMQFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1cq5EJFKGkvvCYijWDhIfJ
Parker either doesn't have a clue, or he is simply dishonest. It showed in the silly report he had compiled about the proportion of income tax paid by the wealthy.
And I'll quote from the article:
Clueless, dishonest and/or just plain "silly" – you be the Judge![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
As for the quote @9:06 pm yesterday, the Taxpayers' Union's campaigns manager Callum Purves might very well say that…
Imo there's nothing honourable about tax avoidance – absolutely nothing.
Re tax evasion:
https://www.ird.govt.nz/managing-my-tax/tax-crime/tell-us-about-evasion-or-fraud/report-anonymously-ir873
After all, what’s sauce for the goose…
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/about-work-and-income/contact-us/report-suspected-fraud/index.html
Parker's study was faulty and shoddy, right down to not including tax transfers. It was a politically motivated sideshow.
A far better study is the Oliver Shaw research (Rich are paying fair share of tax, research finds | Newshub).
Is that the study that found "those paying the highest average effective tax rate were single, unemployed people in rented accommodation"?
Fair's fair.
It's the study that found that not including tax transfers in a report of comparative taxation is really, really silly.
Ah, then that is the study that found "those paying the highest average effective tax rate were single, unemployed people in rented accommodation." Nice to have that cleared up.
The study done for tax consultancy OliverShaw – not a lot of "single, unemployed people in rented accommodation" on their books, to be fair.
The firms principal is a former deputy IRD commissioner. But play the man if that makes you feel better.
And Don Brash was a former Governor of the RBNZ. Your point?
BTW, this is about the research methodology and findings:
Do the wealthiest New Zealanders pay their fair share of tax? | interest.co.nz
LB, why is the Sapere study “a far better study“, in your opinion?
Is that the Parker one that doesn't take into account transfers but included unearned income?
"And Don Brash was a former Governor of the RBNZ. Your point?"
That playing the man (or in this case the organisation) is rather cheap.
Your appeal to authority shows your bias. DMK rightly pointed out a possible conflict of interest that may cloud the judgement or bias the opinion of ‘the man’. This is not ‘playing the man’ per se but a good counter attack when you’ve run out of arguments and refuse to agree to disagree and insist on scoring points. Context is important, but you seem to apply it only when it suits you.
DMK rightly pointed out a possible conflict of interest that may cloud the judgement or bias the opinion of ‘the man’.
Anyone can insinuate a conflict of interest. It's a cheap shot.
Appealing to authority is a weak & lazy shot.
"Appeaing to authority is a weak & lazy shot."
You probably should apologise to DMK. His long, but nevertheless informative posts are full of them.
He’s not on Mod watch, you are. Don’t tell me what to do here, you are not a Mod, I am.
There's an IRD one (uses data on 311 wealthy (net worth generally >$50m) NZ families) that includes all income, a NZ Treasury one, and a Sapere one.
What makes the Sapere one the best, and the IRD one "silly", "faulty and shoddy", in your opinion?
"What makes the Sapere one the best, and the IRD one "silly", "faulty and shoddy", in your opinion?"
My response (with help from David Reddell Parker, taxation, and that IRD report | croaking cassandra).
1. The IRD report is effectively a survey of 311 families. As David Reddell points out:
2. The IRD survey didn't take into account that in NZ, tax on property is already above the OECD median. In fcat , as David Reddel notes, that was one OECD chart left out of the IRD report. Conveniently.
3. The IRD survey includes unearned (unrealised and hypothetical) income for those individuals, but exclude that same unearned income from other tax payers. David Reddell noted of Parker that
4. The IRD survey takes no account of the rate of inflation.
As David Reddell states:
5. The IRD survey takes no account of improvements performed on any of those assets at the tax payers expense.
6. If you refer to page 45 of the IRD report (report-high-wealth-individuals-research-project.pdf (ird.govt.nz)), at paragraph 4.17, you will find this comment:
Above that comment is table 4.1, which shows that the ETR net of transfers at each decile:
D1: -52%
D2: -55%
D3: -36%
D4: – 2%
D5: 6%
D6: 18%
D7: 21%
D8: 23%
D9: 26%
D10: 29%
The Michael Reddell critique is worth a read, but there are others. The poor quality of the IRD work smacks of political interference. Michael Reddell sums it up in this understated manner:
"David Reddell" (or is it "Michael Reddell"?) is one (or two?) economists, "and like lawyers I can give you another one that will give a counterview."
LB, if you believe this wealth distribution is sustainable in the face of climate change, pandemics, food scarcity, war, environmental and economic crises et al., then I have an old car to sell you.
Nah – keep 'em hungry?
Sorry – getting David Parker and Michael Reddell conflated! But your pithy comment about economists and lawyers is of course quite true!
"f you think this wealth distribution is sustainable …'
Wealth and income are not the same thing and not always directly related. Nevertheless, your comment is a great segue, because the political messaging around the IRD study has cleverly conflated wealth and income to create a faux justification for more taxation.
The IRD report is fundamentally about the fairness or otherwise tax paid on income, not wealth. In fact it goes to great pains to justify itself by classifying unearned and frankly 'phantom' gains as 'income', when (ASGFIK) nowhere in the world is unearned income treated this way.
And David Parker further stokes this confusion in his opinion piece foreward:
Wealth and income are not the same, and Parker knows it.
Further to this, the ETR table clearly shows the tax system in NZ is already achieving significant income redistribution. We are at a point where the highest income earners pay a hugely distportionate amount of the total tax take, and a much higher ETR than low-income earners.
LB, for all the huff and puff that "the IRD report is fundamentally about the fairness or otherwise [of] tax paid on income, not wealth", isn't it up to the IRD to say what the IRD report is fundamentally about?
Not knowing the first thing about economics or accounting (as long as I've got enough money to get by, I'm happy), I googled the term 'economic income', and apparently it's a thing – go figure.
Hmm – while there might be bugger all diferrence between 'taxable income' and 'economic income' for much of the population most of the time, I can see why 'high wealth individuals', and their accountants, might have 'concerns' about using economic income to calculate a median effective tax rate of 9.8%.
Imho, this is about striking a fair balance, and we're not there yet.
"isn't it up to the IRD to say what the IRD report is fundamentally about?"
Of course. My emphasis added.
and
report-high-wealth-individuals-research-project.pdf (ird.govt.nz)
The report is a 'project' about ETR's, and as table 4.1 shows, the TWG found that higher income earners pay considerable higher ETR's than those on lower incomes.
"I googled the term 'economic income', and apparently it's a thing – go figure."
It is. But is it ever used in taxing individuals? And if the IRD or David Parker were remotely honest, they would have taken into account the economic income of every earner in NZ, not just the one class they wanted to highlight.
"I can see why 'high wealth individuals', and their accountants, might have 'concerns' about using economic income"
I don't know whether they are concerned or not. But I can see why Parker and the IRD would be far less amendable to repeating study and including the impacts of the past year or so, with asset values (particularly house prices and managed funds) having fallen.
The entire exercise was political, with a predetermined outcome built in to its methodology. It was dishonest but it got the headlines the government wanted, so perhaps they're happy.
So far you've taken issue with: the [dishonest, silly, faulty and shoddy] IRD report; Attorney-General David Parker [stokes confusion and either doesn't have a clue, or is simply dishonest]; Auckland University law professor Mark Henaghan; an article on ‘Mega Landlords: 48 per cent rise in homes owned by trustees 'suggests tax avoidance' [full of nonsense]; and our Govt [The way this government wastes money, it's a drop in the bucket.]
Imho the report on the IRD project outcomes is interesting, but anyone can read this 2-page summary [PDF] and decide for themself.
The purpose of the project is no mystery, and what Table 4.1 shows is stated clearly on page 31 of the full report.
Elements of economic income are used in many countries for the purposes of taxing individuals. Of the seven happiest countries (all OECD members) in 2021, six had higher Tax-to-GDP ratios than NZ (ranked 9th for happiness) – go figure.
Maybe this excerpt from the Sapere report will help.
The reasons for concern about using 'economic income' to calculate the effective tax rates that the very wealthy 'labour' under is obvious.
Some wealthy individuals think the ETRs calculated using 'economic income' are problematic, and I agree with them.
"So far you've taken issue with:"
Oh I've done more than that. At https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20-05-2023/#comment-1950815 I set out very clearly the basis for my criticism of IRD report. The invitation is open for you to address those points, not selectively.
"Elements of economic income are used in many countries for the purposes of taxing individuals. "
What elements? Specifically where and how is unearned income taxed that is not consistent with how we treat similar income in NZ?
"Unlike ETRs based on economic income, these ETRs do not comprehensively take account of untaxed sources of income, such as capital gains."
"The purpose of 'the project' is no mystery, "
You said:
I answered you with a reference from the report itself.
"Some wealthy individuals think the ETRs calculated using 'economic income' are problematic, and I agree with them."
What is wealthy? Are these the 300 or so families who the report failed to recognise are actually taxed as individuals? If so. which ones? If not, who are these 'wealthy' people who are concerned? Michael Reddell doesn't appear to be wealthy.
"Maybe this excerpt from the Sapere report will help."
Not really. The accountants will be rubbing their hands together at the prospect of a new and complex taxation regime.
The concerns about changes causing a reduction in investment are valid. When low decile income earners enjoy a negative ETR, and higher income earners are carrying an increasingly disproportionate share of the tax burden, money will leave the country. It's another reason the aforesaid accountants will be loving this.
Don’t know about “pricks”, but more likely rich than poor, surely?
Hmm – maybe a mix of Kiwis, 'concerned' for different reasons?
For example, individuals in the 41 families who wouldn't cooperate with the IRD project, might be 'concerned' about over-taxation.
While other wealthy Kiwis are concerned about under-taxation. You may not agree with wealthy Kiwis who want to pay more tax, but everyone can appreciate their point of view.
"Don’t about “pricks”, but more likely rich than poor, surely?"
Somewhere in between.
Budget 2023: Government cracks down on trustees, increases tax rate | Newshub
As others have noted here, most trusts are family trusts, set up as vehicles to protect assets for future generations. The 'rich prick with a trust' attutide is alive and well, and ignorant.
"For example, individuals in the 41 families who wouldn't cooperate with the IRD project, might be 'concerned' about over-taxation."
Might be. Might be concerned at the government using (to quote Michael Reddell) the "coercive powers of the state" to prepare a politically motivated attack on success.
"Some of the wealthiest Kiwis in Aotearoa know they pay lower tax rates than most – and have signed a letter explicitly asking to pay more."
Tax Justice Spokesperson among the 97 wealthy Kiwis calling for higher taxes (newstalkzb.co.nz)
Huh? He signed the letter of 'wealthy kiwi's' but isn't wealthy?
We can scratch deeper if you want.
Edit – oh this is beautiful. At the foot of the list are two buttons to click if you want to donate. Not, BTW to the IRD, but to either Oxfam or TJA.
"Somewhere in between" – cute. So what's the value of income from trusts set up by Kiwis living in poverty? Take your time.
You seem very prickly![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
Is there a practical diff between concerns about over-taxation, and concern about politically motivated attacks on financial success?
Those such as Seymour, Luxon and yourself, who leap to the defence of poor put-upon wealthy Kiwis, no doubt have the purest of motivations. It must be truely awful being a wealthy Kiwi, when so many people want to tax your wealth.
Some Kiwis simply can't stomach even the thought of contributing more money to our Govt by way of tax – ‘unfair‘, they cry, Unfair!
If you like, but is there any need? Various motives are clear enough. For many wealthy Kiwis, current tax settings are barely tolerable – they already feel over-taxed, and inequality is certainly not their problem. Other wealthy Kiwis take a different view – maybe they're all silly, confused, dishonest, faulty and shoddy?
""Somewhere in between" – cute."
Somewhere in between rich and poor does not include people in poverty, does it?
"Is there a practical diff between concerns about over-taxation, and concern about politically motivated attacks on financial success?"
Of course there is. For example, I'm concerned about both, but for different reasons. I'm concerned about high income earners paying a disproportionate share of tax, because NZ desperately needs investment. I'm concerned about politically motivated attacks on financial success because they are part of an attitude of mediocracy that is prevalent in NZ.
"If you like, but is there any need? "
Well that depends on you. You posited the idea that this letter was the work of 'wealthy' NZ'ers, which is clearly untrue. Doesn't that concern you?
The trustee can distribute, to the beneficiaries, as much, or as little, of the trust's income as he chooses. Only undistributed income is taxed at the trust rate: formerly 33%, now 39%. Distributed income is taxed at the beneficiary's rate, which can be as low as 10.5%.
"Only undistributed income is taxed at the trust rate: formerly 33%, now 39%."
Yes, that's what I've been saying. In my experience most family trusts distribute all of the income annually already. (Many of those are below the 39% threshold). Perversely, if this tax rate change prompts even more to fully distribute, and to beneficiaries on tax rates lower than 33%, it's entirely possible the government won't draw anywhere near the level of additional taxation they are forecasting.
All of this is quite true LB.
But think of the useful mental health outlet this thread has provided for the 'its not fair' brigade who lump all people with trusts into the category of rich pricks buying mega lots of houses.
I've found that those who engage in trust's often are lacking in trust.
Forced birther poured $120k of his own money into an effort to force a recount of a referendum affirming abortion rights, forcing him to cheap-out on the airworthiness of the light aircraft he was rebuilding. Which then crashed and killed him.
https://www.kansas.com/news/local/news-local-obituaries/article275501041.html
Well, thats peanuts compared to whats coming.
The article goes on to say that that is enough money to fund two of the hugely influential conservative Heritage Foundations plus another sizeable organisation without touching the principle.
What's coming for tens of millions of women is a return to the 19thC.
Directors of women’s health care services at Idaho hospitals are bracing for what’s next: 75 of 117 Idaho OB-GYNs recently surveyed by the Idaho Coalition for Safe Reproductive Health Care said they were considering leaving the state. Of those, nearly 100% — 73 of 75 — cited Idaho’s restrictive abortion laws.
An exodus could affect broader medical coverage for women who rely on OB-GYNs for routine and urgent gynecological care unrelated to pregnancy, like menstrual disorders, endometriosis, and pelvic pain.
Idaho is one of 15 states that have implemented strict abortion laws since last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. And while there is no official nationwide count yet, anecdotal evidence shows that women’s health specialists from states where abortion is criminalized are beginning to relocate to places like Washington state, which has strong abortion rights laws.
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/after-idahos-strict-abortion-ban-ob-gyns-stage-a-quick-exodus/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/132087748/budget-2023-grant-robertsons-budget-has-one-marker-who-matters-adrian-orr
Yep, save maybe $100-$200 per year at the pharmacy but your mortgage payments go up massively.
And pity the renters who will inevitably pay more as a consequence of this.
Alan-When a cyclone causes 10 billion plus expenses that need fixing asap it is not possible to cut government expenditure unless you are proposing mother of all budget cuts to benefits and other payments that go to the less well off.
Why did Labour rule out the use of a short term cyclone levy?
Targeting high income earners, it would have taken money out of the economy offsetting the Government expenditure on the cyclone repair.
In other words, inflation neutral.
Big Hairy News interviews Shamubeel Eaqub on Budget
Once over lightly, where Shamubeel discusses the predominant spend on infrastructure, plus Pat also asks him about Covid response spending.
What is the point (if any) that you are trying to make by posting this link?
Oh, the irony!
That was a good find
If you are getting prescriptions for drugs that are affected by Robertson's proposal there is not a single household that needs to be paying more than $100/year.
An entire household can't save more than $100/year under the scheme even if you were a family with 6 kids and were getting 20 prescriptions/month. Every single one after the first 20 in a year is free,
Arena Williams has been caught telling porkies about that.
Labour MP Arena Williams fact-checked by Twitter community note over post about scrapping of prescription fee | Newshub
Rent goes up regardless of economic conditions. It doesn't matter if it's pharmacy fees or cheap offshore labour, rent always and inexorably goes up.
One thing the landlord class is very good at is extracting every last cent out of tenants, for profit. Pity they are not so good at providing housing safe from illness and fire. It's business, you know!
It's all good, renters are used to being abused as second class citizens.
The whales know. And they hate us.
Orcas have attacked and sunk a third boat off the Iberian coast of Europe, and experts now believe the behavior is being copied by the rest of the population.
Three orcas (Orcinus orca), also known as killer whales, struck the yacht on the night of May 4 in the Strait of Gibraltar, off the coast of Spain, and pierced the rudder. "There were two smaller and one larger orca," skipper Werner Schaufelberger told the German publication Yacht. "The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side."
https://www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-have-sunk-3-boats-in-europe-and-appear-to-be-teaching-others-to-do-the-same-but-why
Yes Joe90, snap. I had noticed two or three reports of whale attacks in the past six months, and was wondering whether it was Nature fighting back with tooth and fin against humans and that global warming shit.
I have read elsewhere a story where orcas and humans co-operated over decades in fish drives in a harbour somewhere on the Canadian west coast, I think. Until the humans stuffed it up one year somehow, and the pact disintegrated.
A fabulous sight one autumn afternoon years ago was watching a pod of orcas playing around in the Waitematā harbour.
So many decades, but little has changed. Just like Cash and Kristofferson wise words in the Paul Holmes clip a few days ago.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1659583477769990146.html
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr's. Presidential Campaign takes a kindness approach.
Whereas, Trump takes a strength approach.
Sure if you vote by numbers of sanctimoneous abstract nouns, go right ahead.
On the other hand if you like policy, RFK JR:
– Lobbied Congress to enable parents to evade vaccinating their children
https://people.com/health/jessica-biel-says-shes-not-against-vaccinations/
– Has a Non Profit called Child's Health Defence which paid for more than half of the ads on Facebook lying about vaccines, and was then barred from instagram
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/us/robert-f-kennedy-jr-instagram-covid-vaccine.html
– Published a book titled The Real Anthony Fauci, accusing the doctor of promoting "a historic coup d'etat against Western democracy."
– Promoted a documentary falsely claiming that vaccines give you autism
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/10/the-facts-about-vaccines-autism-and-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-conspiracy-theory/
I'm sure he's done a lot of good particularly in environmental defences of rivers, and of course he's younger than Joe Biden.
But … nah
I don't vote in the US election.
I was merely interested in the two different campaign approaches.
RFK Jnr is a nutter. So different campaign approaches for the same fruit cake 'winner'
Would you prefer Biden to win?
A deep dive into Jr's dangerous, dishonest lunacy.
/
The only ‘herd immunity’ we need is against abysmal candidates like RFK Jr. He has spent decades as a professional liar and is not the kind of person who should be anywhere near power.
[…]
Let’s establish at the outset that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is someone who lies constantly in ways that seriously endanger the public. In fact, his lies have probably directly caused people to get sick, and possibly die.
To those who accept the scientific consensus around the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, someone like Kennedy can appear to be a mere “nut” or “crank.” But it’s important to understand that anti-vaxxers like Kennedy aren’t just “crazy.” They’re skilled manipulators of statistics who are great at fooling people using pseudoscience. Waving them away as
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/05/rfk-jr-is-a-lying-crank-posing-as-a-progressive-alternative
And there's always the possibility that Jr's a player in one of Roger Stone's rat-fucking schemes.
Thanks, Joe.
Seems some have a bee in their bonnet re his vaccine stance.
Nevertheless, it also seems he's polling rather well regardless.
Trump is too, so not sure of the relevance. Both crazy in different ways so 'you takes your chances and you makes your choice' between whatever flavour you like.
Yes, I've seen that Trump is also polling well.
I wonder which approach American voters will favour?
As I have long told my US cousin the choice of the President of the US is far too important to be given to Americans…… when Trump got in we agreed that anyone other than Americans, preferably NZers, should have been given the vote for the US Pres & that way they might have avoided Trump. She's a Democrat but who knows, she's not an anti vaxxer.
Her father on the other hand used to tell all his family here in NZ that he would be coming back to NZ each time a Labour Govt got in, in the UK. But of course he never did.
Anti-vaccine stances are directly responsible for the return of vaccine-preventable diseases that disproportionately affect children.
Those who oppose a crank magnet who poses an existential threat to millions of children have a little more than a bee in their bonnet.
/
Is it really the anti-vaccine stance that is responsible, or could it be the failure to convincingly refute them?
Maybe those who oppose a crank magnet should be reconsidering their own tactics?