Open mike 24/05/2023

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 24th, 2023 - 39 comments
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39 comments on “Open mike 24/05/2023 ”

  1. Sanctuary 1

    Formation of the 3rd NZ Expeditionary Force has been paused while the government examines the terms of Miami Zoo's surrender.

  2. Cricklewood 2

    Looks like we need to place some hard limits on the use of plastics, basically we need to get it out of short lifecycle products immediately and only use where its absolutely essential. The recycling process is basically just making the problem to small for us to see…

    "The estimate of 75bn particles a cubic metre is for a plant with a filter installed. A majority of the particles were smaller than 10 microns, about the diameter of a human red blood cell, with more than 80% smaller than five microns, Brown said.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/23/recycling-can-release-huge-quantities-of-microplastics-study-finds

  3. weka 3

    The Kiwis won.

    On behalf of everyone at Zoo Miami, please accept our most sincere apology for the stress initiated by a video depicting the handling/housing of “Paora,” the Kiwi. Effective immediately, the Kiwi Encounter will no longer be offered.

    https://twitter.com/zoomiami/status/1661102140067028993

    Press statement https://www.zoomiami.org/media-news/posts/kiwi-bird-statement

    • weka 3.1

      tweet is a bit silly. Never mind the stress of the video, it's the ongoing stress on the kiwi that was the issue.

    • Sanctuary 3.2

      I hear the director of Miami Zoo has offered to work out his days trapping stoats in Fiordland as pennance.

  4. PsyclingLeft.Always 4

    National's tax plan has $1.5 billion fiscal hole – Council of Trade Unions

    CTU economist Craig Renney said new wage growth forecasts from last week's Budget show the cost will actually blow out to $8.2b.

    He said National needed to publish its calculations to show how it intended to make up that more than $1.5b difference.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/490523/national-s-tax-plan-has-1-point-5-billion-fiscal-hole-council-of-trade-unions

    nats Luxon and Willis…But its all Labours fault !

    Oh really. wtaf ?!

    • Ngungukai 4.1

      National need to start planning for the 2026 Election I think they have f*cked this one already.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.1.1

        Aye Im cautiously optimistic : ). Just they keep heading that direction. We keep heading for Election win. I really would hate to see NZ under..(literally !) Nact rule…

    • Johnr 4.2

      Good God, have they brought Steven Joyce back into the fold

  5. ianmac 5

    About time but only the State trial

    "Donald Trump will face a criminal trial in New York on March 25, 2024, a judge said on Tuesday."

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/trump-criminal-trial-start-next-march

  6. arkie 6

    The OCR is now 5.5%.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/490555/reserve-bank-raises-ocr-to-5-point-5-percent

    Chlöe Swarbrick once again makes a most salient point:

    #BREAKING: Reserve Bank of NZ have just raised the Official Cash Rate once again, in turn raising mortgage rates, trying to 'manufacture a recession' (as the Governor admitted to my questioning late last year) to reduce demand and cool inflation.

    We know that inflation hits lower-income New Zealanders who spend the majority of their income covering the essentials like food and rent the hardest. We know that recessions also hit those same low-income people hardest, because they have smaller savings and tend to be in more precarious employment.

    This isn't happening in a vacuum. Instead of relying on the Reserve Bank to use blunt economic tools to reduce demand, the Government can achieve far fairer outcomes by taxing wealth.

    Let’s be very clear: this is a political choice. It comes hot off the back of Government commissioned research that also paints a crystal clear image of immense wealth and tax inequity in this country.

    There’s a reason 52% of New Zealanders supported a wealth tax in Newshub polling last week. You know the system is not fair and the Greens are here to continue taking that fight to the halls of power.

    https://www.facebook.com/chloeNZgreens/

    • SPC 6.1

      The last word from the RBG.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoOSGCoAXJk\

      Despite CS’s take, for most the RBG’s 0.25% increase and staying with his previous forecast peak OCR 5.5% was a dovish surprise.

      Many expected an increase to 0.5 increase to 5.75% and a signal of future moves to a peak of 6.5%.

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/ocr-rates-to-rise-markets-braced-for-todays-big-call/5RM7NGP72JCVPPKUN6T5AW6WRM/

      For mine his mistakes were in not reigning things back a bit in 2021 and then not going with a 0.5% hit in late 2021 when it was clear things had got out of hand.

      But I think he got this one right.

      • SPC 6.1.1

        CS is correct to note the RBG has few means of realising the objectives required and the OCR is a blunt tool. He has the deposit ratios – something Bollard would have wanted back in 2007. A mortgage surcharge should be added (something Bollard asked for), but it's not that useful for managing imported inflation.

        If it was my choice I would reduce inflation on the poor with a rent freeze (I would have placed one on last year for two years to the end of 2024). The subsidy on prescriptions will help some though.

        I would see the wealth tax as a means that was tax neutral and stimulus neutral way to provide targeted support to those in need (including leasing houses to supply at income related rents).

    • In Vino 6.2

      I agree. But it is distressing that many others who must surely agree have not bothered to respond after 6 hours.

      Maybe Kiwis fully deserve what we get.

  7. SPC 7

    What is the difference between $1.5B over 4 years when it is spending and when it is tax cuts?

    The former is an inflationary blowout and the latter is, not much, says Christopher Luxon.

    Indexing tax thresholds to inflation is a major National Party policy, but it benefits those on higher incomes more than the lowest earners.

    "We proposed the [tax threshold changes] idea 18 months ago," he told host Ryan Bridge. "We've got heaps of money in New Zealand to be able to fund… that."

    Luxon said the plan was to cut "wasteful" spending to be able to fund the tax threshold changes.

    "National said its tax bracket adjustments would cost $1.66 billion annually when announced as policy in March 2022. This represents $6.64 billion over four years.

    "The revised cost is now $8.2 billion – a $1.5 billion blowout.

    "On top of this, National has also committed to another $890 million annually in tax breaks for landlords.

    The total is now $3B pa.

    Talk about a blowout from $10.3B to $11.8B over 4 years hides the more important detail.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/05/christopher-luxon-responds-as-council-of-trade-unions-says-national-s-tax-plan-has-blown-out-by-1-5-billion.html

  8. Drowsy M. Kram 8

    A small selection of recent opinion pieces on tax-related matters in Australasia.

    What is the purpose of the Tax Principles Reporting Bill?
    Tax Alert – June 2023 [Deloitte Partner (Tax) Robyn Walker]

    Tax has remained constantly in the news since the Inland Revenue released its High Wealth Report in April, and it seems certain to stay high in the consciousnesses of New Zealanders through until the 2023 Election, and beyond.

    With many political parties already releasing election tax policies proposing new or increased taxes (particularly for those with wealth) in the name of fairness, the spotlight is clearly on the subjectiveness of “fairness” when it comes to taxes.

    'Fairness' is clearly a problematic concept where taxation is concerned. Walker recently offered an analysis of the IRD's "Wealth report – a fruit salad of information".

    And Dr Kampmark (RMIT Uni) doesn't think highly of PricewaterhouseCoopers, nor the Australian Taxation Office's treatment of whistleblower Richard Boyle.

    Rogues Consultants: PwC, Tax Evasion And Getting Clients [23 May 2023]
    Things are not looking up at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a global professional services firm piratically free in sharing confidential tax information gathered from government clients. Then again, the firm’s expertise is not so much to look up to a principled heaven as down to a tax-proof Hades, buried in the scrambling minutiae of accounting and deception.

    In Australia, it has also been particularly galling to see the prospect that sharing such confidential information – notably in terms of tax policies – will see no PwC employee or member of management spend time mournfully gazing from a prison cell. That prospect is what faces Richard Boyle, the Australian Taxation Office’s whistleblower who exposed the predatory conduct of its [the ATO's] debt collecting practices with tigerish courage.

    "It's our job to be fair", and yet 'fairness' seems to be an increasingly rare and precious 'commodity' – does 'fairness' actually mean anything anymore, in a country that used to pride itself on giving (almost) everyone a fair go?

    Jailed for not passing on employees' tax deductions – IRD [23 May 2023]
    Prosecutors told the jury that carrying on a business without paying taxes is unfair to employees, unfair to other businesses and unfair to other taxpayers.

    Gower had been the director of 20 companies since 1989 and admitted he was aware of his obligations as an employer. He has repaid $300,000 in reparation.

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